Solar Dawn Lunar Eclipse
by Vince Stevens
Summary: It's a year after the failed wedding and the triumph over Galaxia. Both Senshi and Nerima's most volatile pair have moved on with their lives. When a new evil from beyond time appears, the Senshi find new comrades...but will they help?
1. Dreams of Times Gone By

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to someone else except for the story idea. I'm poor, so there's no point in suing.

Solar Dawn and Lunar Eclipse

In the dark underbelly of some distant plane of existence, a great evil stirred. This ultimate evil, cast away eons ago by the creators of the universe, smiled cruelly at the prospect of its planar bonds weakening. Soon, very soon, it would be able to send the first of its minions through the now weakening portal into the realm of mortals. It knew the place it would start: Japan, an island nation. Such a small target on such a large planet might seem strange to some, but the evil master sensed the presence of the same magicks that bound its power to this hellish realm. And it wanted revenge.

***

Far away, on the distant planet that the evil demon lord swore to overtake, a young teenage girl laid down for bed. Her long, glowing golden locks cascaded down her slender form and away from the two buns adorning her scalp. It had been a long strenuous summer without her Mamo-chan by her side, but Usagi Tsukino was more than prepared for her beloved's return at the end of this week. As she laid herself down in bed, she smiled sleepily to her guardian cat, Luna. Usagi had been through a great deal in the last few years because of that cat, but she was more than happy to do her duties as Sailor Moon despite the way she seemed always complain and shirk her responsibilities. She had learned much over the last few years about being a leader and taking care of her responsibilities in all aspects of her life, though not so much where school was concerned.

But now the day was at an end, the summer was about to do the same and soon, very soon, her Mamo-chan would be with her again. Nothing could've made her happier at that time and she kept an image of her beloved's face with her as she drifted off into dreamland.

***

Despite her efforts to make her dreams about her beloved, Usagi had a very different dream that night. She realized rather quickly that she was back in the homeland of her birth, the Moon Kingdom. However, unlike other times she had visited, she was able to view it in its entire splendor. Tall trees lined the courtyards crafted in the finest marble. Beautiful fountains created a feeling of tranquility that was infectious to anyone strolling by. Usagi smiled as she made her way through the various palatial gardens and courtyards. She loved the sights and smells that assaulted her senses as she leisurely strolled through the palace. She was surprised, however, to notice that she was actually much smaller than she normally was during such dreams. It seems as though she was now about the height, and age, of her future daughter, Chibi-Usa. Inwardly shrugging, Usagi went with the new look and continued on until she came upon a clearing marked off by a low stone wall. Inside the confines of the wall, a large willow tree grew in nearly the center of the alcove. A large misshapen boulder sat next to it, and perched on the boulder was a somewhat tall boy about Usagi's current age outside of this imposed dream world. He had long, wild raven hair tied back in a loose ponytail and he wore the armor of the Lunar Guard, the protectors of the royal line of the Moon. The young Usagi smiled widely at the sight of the boy and ran around the rock to see his face while she spoke. She was slightly surprised by a large black panther lying at the boy's feet across the ground in front of the boulder. The panther lifted its head slightly at the girl's sudden appearance, but laid it back down once realizing who it was.

"Geez Onii-sama, what's Nova doing out here with you. You almost never let anyone come out here with you...including him."

The young man looked at the budding princess before him and scowled, but the look never reached his soft blue eyes and his sister realized it. "You know that does include you too, Usa-chan. What brings you out this far tonight?"

Usagi giggled. "Why I just wanted to talk to my favorite onii-san, Kane-chan" said the diminutive princess through a wide smile and an accompanying giggle fit.

The young man sighed. "First off, I'm your ONLY big brother and secondly stop calling me by that infernal nickname, if you must, at least call me by my real name."

This caused a massive pout to cross the young girl's lips. "You're no fun, Kaneda."

Seeing his sister's reaction, an aggravated groan escaped the young warrior's lips. "By the Great Rings I hate it when you do that." He sighed heavily and hung his head hoping his next statement will cut off any attempts of hers to start a crying fit. "I'm sorry imoutu-chan." The girl's pout dissolved almost instantly as she bounded past the panther, her blonde pigtails flying, and glomped Kaneda in an embrace that would rival a Terran Amazon.

She snuggled into her own forced embrace and whispered, "I love you so much, onii-sama. You'll always protect me, won't you?"

Kaneda smiled and stroked his hand slowly through his sister's golden hair. "Of course Usa-chan. I'll never let anything happen to you." At that, he saw a wide smile spread across his sister's angelic face. "So, how was your last visit to Terra, Usa-chan? When you came back you were positively glowing."

Usagi giggled both at her brother's quick change of subject and the new direction of their conversation. "Oh, that," she said as she beamed an even wider and brighter smile, "I just met the most wonderful boy. He's the prince of the Terran court. His name was Endymion and he was so cute and so sweet to me. I can't wait to see him again." At the end of her story, the girl's trademark smile returned and Kaneda could see a rosy tint to the girl's cheeks.

The young Lunar prince scowled at his sister's recollection of her visit to Terra's court. He had heard rumors of the Terran prince being a bit of an upstart and a budding playboy and the thought of someone like that causing such feelings in his sister did not sit well with the protective Kaneda. He knew that if this went any further, he would be hovering over Endymion like a hawk for the rest of his days. Before Usagi could see, he reigned in his features to a look of amusement. "Well, I'm glad for you Usa-chan. I just hope you're careful. I would hate to see you get your heart broken." With that, he smiled and released himself from his sister's embrace and slowly made his way towards the exit of his garden. "Nova, come." At its master's summons, the panther took a quick glance over to the blonde girl before bounding over the boulder and joining its master at his side. Together, the two silently made their way out of the garden and back into the palace, an early nighttime fog covering their retreat to the castle.

Usagi, not entirely sure why her brother left so suddenly, curled up in a ball on her Kaneda's favorite rock and let a steady stream of tears fall from her sapphire eyes. "Why," she whispered to herself," why'd you leave me Kaneda? Did I say something wrong?" Usagi, silently cried until exhaustion overtook her as she wondered why her brother felt so cold when he left rather than the cheerful attitude he portrayed before his sudden departure.

*  
Back in the realm of the conscious, Usagi Tsukino thrashed about under her covers, moaning as though in pain. Luna, her guardian and 'pet' cat, sat up on the corner of Usagi's bed watching her charge with worry in her feline eyes. This was not the first time Usagi had been plagued by nightmares in recent nights. However, when confronted about the dreams, her charge had been rather tight-lipped and reclusive with regard to the content of these dreams. Despite everything she tried, Luna could never garner any information regarding them. As she softly grumbled about the injustice of such a mistrusting charge, her feline ears piqued as Usagi had begun her moaning. The cat could see tears being shed, even in the girl's sleep. Her heart leapt for her charge as she continued to moan in agony until... Kane-chan......no, don't leave me......" The cat's jaw hit the mattress at that. 'No, it couldn't be. He wasn't revived', thought Luna. 'Oh, this is not good at all, he was always a troublemaker, and he hurt Usagi so badly, even if it wasn't intentionally, during the Silver Millennium' continued Luna's unspoken thoughts. While it may do Usagi some good to have Kaneda back in her life, the possibility for disaster would be great. She only hoped that these memories were not the result of Kaneda's reawakening. If they were, while possibly ushering in a great boon for the galaxy, they could be the catalyst for the ultimate dissolution of the Senshi as a cohesive fighting unit. That simply could not happen. She knew she would have to speak to Artemis tomorrow about this new development.

***

In a neighboring ward of Tokyo, two martial artists were having similar dreams to those of the young moon princess. One of these was the district's current chaos magnet, Ranma Saotome.

Ranma was confused. While that may not necessarily be new for him, the reason for his confusion certainly was. Here he was, standing in the midst of a rather gargantuan palace, by just about anyone's standards. While this was not in and of itself a wholly alien concept to him, the next was: he was standing on the Moon, looking at the distant Earth in the celestial sky. He was on the Moon, with no breathing apparatus or anything those gaijin astronauts wore on their trek here, and yet here he was, in full battle armor, and breathing as normally as if he were on Earth. The second thing which greatly confused him was that he was wearing full battle armor which included a lightweight chestplate, relatively simple shoulder guards, leg and shin guards with the accompanying boots, and arm guards with bracers. Everything was extremely lightweight, almost as if it didn't exist on his frame. The armor was all the same shade of smoke grey which bordered on being black. The only irregularity was the medium-sized golden upturned crescent moon adorning the top of the chestplate which he instinctively knew was there despite not being able to see it. At his side was a longsword, sheathed and ready for battle. After completing this mental stock of the situation, it became quickly apparent that this was a dream, as the body he inhabited moved away from him, leaving only an astral remnant of Ranma floating in its wake. Ranma, wondering what was going on, decided to follow 'himself'.

Crowned Lunar Prince Kaneda decided to finally stop contemplating his navel as he gazed at the planet above. As he began to make his way towards the throne room, he gave the servants and guards alike the same customary nod of their existence and that their service was not going unnoticed by the Royal Prince. About halfway through his trek, he passed through the aviary where he was sure to find one being whose company he tried never to be without. He found the sleek ebony panther playfully 'hunting' the various bird species in the aviary. Kaneda simply shook his head and turned to face the panther directly. "Nova, stop pestering the poor birds and come with me. We have to go meet mother." At his master's command, the majestic beast made a small leap from the boulder he was perched on and quickly fell into his position slightly behind his master's right side so that his head barely reached Kaneda's leg as the two strode evenly towards their destination.

Ranma had been following the Lunar Prince since he became an audience in his own dream. Yes, he realized quite quickly that this had to be a dream, a very vivid and realistic dream. When Kaneda reached the aviary, Ranma was quite surprised that while he was still frightened of Nova, he was not gripped by the overwhelming fear he normally associated with felines. In fact, it was even bearable. He wasn't sure if it was because it was a dream, or something else, but he shelved it for later. He was actually rather interested in where this was leading.

Kaneda, with Nova in tow, finished his walk through the palace grounds to a set of large marble double doors. The intriguing thing about these particular doors, however, was the fact that the intricate carvings were inlaid with various precious stones and metals containing eleven very distinctive colors: deep reddish orange that seemed on fire, greyish-black with a sheen of the most perfect steel, a blue seeming cold as the coldest ice, light yellow-orange that swirled with the confines of its gem, pure diamond as clear as glass, stunning crimson more brilliant than any ruby, strong forest green made from mixing jade and emerald, the shadowy purple of deep amethyst, a muted yellow topaz to show contrast and show the need for diversity among its more embellished counterparts, flowing turquoise as colorful and ever-changing as the sea, and finally the most suffocating black created from onyx and obsidian as a reminder of the void. Kaneda touched the doors lovingly. They had stood for centuries not just as an ornamentation or a mere threshold, but a symbol of all the planets within the system and how they all tied into Luna. Unfortunately, two of the eleven were no longer a part of that kingdom, but one day that would change. No one knows when, but it would eventually. As he entered the royal chamber, he noticed that his mother was currently in audience with another entourage. Doing what was customary for his station as the Prince of Luna, he respectively bowed to one knee, eyes foreward. After doing so, Nova took a sitting position just behind his master, the panther's head as low as possible. While the two prostrated as much as was necessary, Kaneda listened carefully to what was being discussed.

"Yes your majesty, what we told you twelve years ago remains to be true. Her Highness is still barren due to causes which our Healers have never been able to understand and know no cure. Karina showed her sigil as our Senshi shortly after birth. I know that you know, as do we, of the last prophecy made by our Seer all those years ago before our kingdoms separated. We respectfully come to inquire what you wish to do? Both Their Majesties are willing to attempt this venture if you are."

"Hmm...I see. So Herania has never recovered nor will she ever it seems." Queen Serenity bowed her head slightly as though pondering the next course of action. She knew well that her reply to the messenger would most likely decide the future of her kingdom and another which, while not militant towards her and her people, were severe isolationists after breaking from the Moon Kingdom. This was important indeed. But while her mind told her that this scheme would most likely never work do to her son's overwhelming stubbornness; she decided she would try anyway. "You may tell Queen Herania and King Helios that I agree with their decision. I will meet with them and will bring my son with me. Tell them that we shall meet at the end of the week. Please also let your Queen know that I am deeply sorry that she was unable to bear anymore children, despite what your Seer foresaw."

The messenger and his small group bowed respectful despite not wanting anything to do with the woman before them. Despite what their rulers thought, not everyone was behind reunification. "Thank you, Your Majesty. We will take our leave now and be prepared for your arrival."

Kaneda had stayed silent throughout the proceeding and was, at least inwardly, cursing up a storm. The second he heard 'King Helios' he had a very good suspicion as to the reason for this meeting. He knew the Prophecy well and he was his mother's only son. If the only child born to the Solar Royal Family was a girl and the Senshi, then the two of them were now engaged. Hell, they were practically married. Great. Just great. What other wonderful news was in store.

"Hello, Kaneda. I'm a bit surprised to see you, but any chance to see my first born is a pleasant one. How goes the training for the other Guardsmen?"

At his mother's acknowledgment to his presence, both Kaneda and Nova rose to their normal heights in order to properly address the Queen. "It's going fine, Mother, as usual. Though there are, sadly, more and more recruits who seem to only rely on their magic potential in training and not their actual martial skills. Personally, it's rather disheartening. However, I believe you now have other business you and I should discuss?"

"Why, yes actually. I'm sure you've overheard what the entourage from the Solar Kingdom and I were discussing. It seems, despite only being twelve, we've found your future bride."

***

Ranma shot up from his futon sweating profusely. What was that about?!? Thinking about what he could still remember from the dream, it seemed as though he mixed some weird sci-fi manga and his real life together to come up with that. Was it just pre-wedding jitters? With that thought he took a deep cleansing breath and visibly calmed as a smile grew on his still sweaty features.

The thought of how Akane and he had grown since the whole Saffron incident brightened his mood. It's amazing what near-death experiences will do to a person. After the failed wedding attempt, Nodoka made sure that both fathers understood that the two martial artists were now in charge of their own destiny with regard to the marriage and she brandished her katana often to make sure of it. During the year that followed both Ranma and Akane slowly came to realize how much each meant to one another, and the process was extremely anti-climactic to say the least. It was more a non-verbal understanding than anything else. No words were needed, no real acts were necessary. They simply found what was lacking between them and unconsciously fixed it. They were now a happy couple who had no real trouble expressing their feelings towards the other. Neither had said those three little words that any person in love yearns to hear, but both knew it whether it was professed or not, and that was what mattered. No, Ranma and Akane found small ways to show their affection. Ranma didn't walk on the fence as much, instead he was standing by Akane usually hand-in-hand. Akane would give him the occasional peck on the cheek or, if no one was around to spoil the moment, a good hearty kiss on the lips which he amply returned. Yes, it was anti-climactic to say the least. But both agreed that they were ready, and said as much to their parents. To say that the two patriarchs were overjoyed is like saying that Happosai liked women's underwear. The partying the two idiots did for the occasion lasted almost a week. Each night they came home well into the night so badly drunk that they usually never made it to the couch, let alone upstairs. Now, a month later, all the preparations were made, and all that needed to happen was the ceremony.

At that thought, Ranma checked the clock next to his futon: 2:45 am. The pigtailed martial artist sighed internally. Too late to go back to bed. So instead the resident Nerima chaos magnet got up and decided to do some very light training so he wouldn't wake anyone or get too lethargic for the upcoming ceremony. Because, despite popular belief, he did usually wear himself out during practice even if he didn't outwardly show it.

***

Just down and across the hall from our soon-to-be practicing martial artist was his bride-to-be fast asleep in her bed. Like her husband, she was having an equally strange dream that made just as little sense to her as Ranma's did to him.

Unlike the dream of her soon-to-be groom, Akane knew this was a dream from its inception. After all, how many explanations can there be for floating incorporeally in space? Her astral self seemed on autopilot as she gracefully glided through the void past Earth, past Venus, past even Mercury. There she hovered, in front of the great celestial body which helped give birth to her planet's inhabitants. However, she quickly saw she wasn't alone. Coming into view directly in front of her was a person of similar stature gliding from the Sun's surface. The only reason she wasn't surprised from this, was the fact that this was now the tenth time she'd had this dream in the last two months. Once again, the shadowy figure loomed just out of reach , completely silohuetted from Akane's prying eyes. Just as before, Akane tried to speak. While she'd never been able to before, she finally was able to find her voice. "Who are you", she asked the phantom before her.

Just as surprisingly, it answered. "I am you."

"But you can't be me. I can tell so just by the outline of your frame."

"You and I are one. We were never meant to be apart and yet here we are...split. You have lost something which you don't even realize to be lost. You, the greatest warrior who lived, even more so than Saturn...the bringer of her precious Silence."

"What are you talking about? Saturn? That's a planet, not a person! And I'm no warrior. Heh, even I can admit that."

"Oh but you were. Your might was unparalleled in our time. While we were complete, we had the capacity to defeat any opponent once properly brought into our powers."

Akane blinked at that one. All she could think was, "Powers? Now that's a new one."

The phantom before her just shook her head. "Perhaps a time from our life will jog your memory."

It was a hectic day for the community of Solaris, capital city of the Solar Kingdom. For it was on this day that their new Princess was born. It was said that the baby's cries could be heard all the way outside into the city proper, which was a good 6 kilometers away. Yes, the new Princess had a very healthy set of lungs. Shortly after her birth, there she lay, cuddled in her mother's arms, the tall woman's long mane of onyx hair greatly differed from her husband's deep crimson. Strangely enough, the small lock of hair that accompanied the new royalty had hints of both colors in it. However, that was not the only peculiarity with her birth. After finally nodding off in her mother's gentle arms, a bright light appeared on the infant's forehead. It shone like a beacon and the King and Queen saw it and gasped. On their baby's forehead was a golden dot surrounded by a thin golden circle. Not minutes old, and their daughter had already been marked.

As Akane moved to inspect what the happy parents had seen, she sensed she already knew what she would see. As soon as she was able to directly view the sigil of the star Sol, the sigil flared, blinding Akane.

As with her fianc e, Akane bolted awake, panting. 


	2. Moving On & Realizations

It's a cool summer's day at the Tendo dojo. This day, unlike many others holds great significance for so many people. For the few months since the whole Jusendo/failed wedding incident, six people have been dreading this day while nine have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. That is because today is the wedding of Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane. Despite protests and plots of suitors and rivals alike, the day proceeded as planned and by its end, two very prideful youths were enjoying the bonds of matrimony.

Everything went as planned: the Kunos were detained after Nabiki called the mansion telling the them the address where the wedding of two pigtailed martial artists would be held which happened to coincide with the location of Nerima Psychiatric Hospital; the Amazons believed that Ranma and Akane were off on a training trip togehter which they went to break up; Ukyo was told a similar lie except the direction was the exact opposite; Ryoga was simply lost as usual and no one had seen Happosai since the last attempt. It seemed the kami were finally smiling on the two wartorn lovebirds today. The reception went well with the fathers drinking around seven liters of sake each and everyone enjoying Kasumi and Nodoka's fine cooking.

***

That night, as the rest of the family was leaving in order to 'give the new couple their space', a young girl who didn't have marriage on the brain was starting to settle down for the night. Dinner was already hours old and there was little more to do than to go to sleep and dream. After finishing her preparations, Usagi uncerimonuously crumpled onto her bed and sighed heavily. The poor girl had slowly been getting more and more melancholy the past few weeks for no apparent reason and her family had begun to pry. It was very hard to tell your mother that the reason you were upset and sad was that you were a reincarnated princess from a dead kingdom who was having memories about a long forgotten older brother resurface. No, this was a burden the deceptively strong young woman would have to shoulder herself. Again.

From the vantage point of her pillow bed in the corner of Usagi's room, the moon cat watched her charge with sadness in her eyes. Unable to take her Princess's suffering any longer and bounded quickly to her side. "Usagi, what's wrong?"

At her guardian's inquiry, the golden-haired Princess began shaking terribly and muffled crying could be heard as the force of her sobbing wracked her fragile frame. Slowly her crying subsided enough that she sat, if a bit shakily, upon her bed and looked down at the concerned feline. "It's nothing, Luna, really."

The girl's advisor only sighed and shook her head before returning her gaze to her charge. "Usagi, you know as well as I do that that is not the case. Please, I am here to help you in any matter. It is my job both as the Advisor to the Lunar Royal Court and, therefore, it's Princess; I'm also your guardian, and your friend. Please, trust in me. I only care about what's best for you. You must've realized this by now."

It was Usagi's turn to sigh. "I know, Luna," she said as her tears began drying and she found a bit more of her voice, "It's just that I'm so confused right now. I'm not sure I believe what I have been seeing in my dreams and if it is true, then it's actually worse than if it was simply my mind playing tricks on me."

Luna looked down, and muttered, "It's about Kaneda, isn't it."

That startled Usagi completely out of her misery. "You know about him? Why haven't you told me before? Do these dreams mean that he's revived? Do you think he's my age or was he just born? Will he be like his old self do you think? Will I finally have a family member from my old life with me?"

"Usagi, please, slow down! I can barely understand what you're asking with you talking so fast. I don't remember everything about our time before now, but I do remember Kaneda rather well. As for the reason I never told you before is that when we found out you were the Princess incarnate, and the Prince was not discovered at the same time, Artemis and I assumed that your mother had not been able to resurrect his soul in time when she sent everyone to the future. His soul may have already been lost to this present period and, therefore, no use to us in our fight. Now I know that sounds like a callous way of thinking but in wartime it is a necessary evil. And if you remember, we were at war the moment I made you don the guise of Sailor Moon." She waited for a mute nod before continuing with her story. "Now, The dreams could be one of two things, 1) simply more of your memories from the past returning; or 2) a preparation for you reuniting with your brother. While I'm pretty sure it is the latter you must be prepared for the possibility that your brother is not in this time. If we assume for the moment that he is alive now, I would assume that this is just like before. He would have been born before you by a few years and probably a very good warrior. It seems that such traits from your former lives seemed to transcend the trip to this time."

"So you mean that I was a klutz, Ami was a brain, Rei had a severe temper, Makoto was a brawler and Minako was a ditz?"

"More or less. Though, because of all your royal duties and training, you were never a clutz in the past. So if you were properly trained again you wouldn't be so much anymore. Though, I can't guarantee it to be a cure."

"But what about that 'Princess School' the Negaverse created to find me? They were teaching form and poise and all that and I didn't learn anything! If anything I think I'm worse now."

Luna chuckled at that. "That's true. But don't forget, their main purpose was to steal energy and find Sailor Moon. So it's only natural that they wouldn't really teach anything that would work well. If you can find a decent teacher, then I'm sure you'll be much better. But I'm digressing. As to your last inquiry, I highly doubt that he would have any knowledge that he is from the past. Like the others Inner Senshi, his memories will most likely need to be awoken by my Mind Meld. However, they may simply break through naturally or he may know already. I can't say for certain. Now, would you like me to explain some of what I can remember from before? I don't remember everything since the memories seemed not to be needed until now so it's rather spotty, but I do remember enough."

"Oh, Luna could you? I mean I know I'm probably fostering a false hope, but I so want to know what my brother was like, even if only through what you remember."

Hearing her charge's reply, she once again began a rather long monologue. "Alright, well for starters, you brother, like all the Princes of the Royal line before him, was the First Knight of the Royal Lunar Guard. He was always trained in every technique and fighting style known both to us and our allies, just as tradition dictated. Now, you well know that the women of your line became rulers over the Moon Kingdom after each became of age and wed their mate. Kaneda was no different. However, for some reason, you and he were then only children of Serenity. And let me tell you it was not for lack of trying." The aged advisor chuckled at her rather perverse attempt at mirth before continuing, "Normally there are many children of each sex born to the Royal family so that the line may be ensured and the family protected in case either of the first born children perish for whatever reason, but that was not the case this time. Unlike before, you and he were the only heirs to our kingdom."

"But Luna, I remember rather vividly one of my dreams where Kaneda said that he would be crowned the ruler of the Kingdom instead of me. He said something to that effect in passing but I know what I heard."

"Hmmm. This is strange. I don't remember that but I do vaguely remember something about a period in our future called the 'Golden Millenium' which of course never happened since we were wiped out. I'm sorry but I don't remember more."

"One other thing, you said Mother might not have been able to bring him across. Why would that be?"

"Simply because he fell early in the battle when Beryll and Metallia attacked us. He and his guards were the first to attack and fall. However, he did give the Senshi the time to mobilize and try to fight the onslaught. With his passing so early, Artemis and I assumed that he had not made the trip the way all of you did since we never found him. He would have simply passed through each life never knowing who he really was assuming that his memories came with him. With all of you reborn, this is the only chance that he may have of reclaiming who he was then. I'm sorry I can't tell you much more than that for now. My memories of the past, while better every day, still leave alot to be desired.

"It's alright, Luna. But I think I need to finally get some sleep. I'll probably go see Rei in a couple days and see if she can help."

"Alright, my Princess. Good night."

With that the two soon fell asleep.

***

Once again, Usagi found herself living out her past as she dreamed. This time, unlike before, she was much closer to her current age. Once again, her path seemed to be directing her to the same clearing as before. As she once again broached the sanctity of her brother's most cherished refuge on the castle grounds, she looked around. No one seemed to be there. Wondering where Nova and Kaneda could be she decided to check the front side of the large boulders in the grove. Sure enough, there was a sleeping panther curled up and resting comfortably. Wondering if this would work, Princess Serenity nudged the panther gently, whispering, "Nova. Nova, wake up." Eventually her gentle prodding was met with a slightly sluggish response as her brother's pet awoke. Finally, the cat rose up and looked at the Princess quizzically. "Nova, I need to talk to Kaneda. Can you lead me to him?" Despite not being fluent in 'human speak', like the Advisors to the Court, the panther understood the meaning well enough. He brushed by the Princess and continued slowly then stopped and turned back to make sure she was following closely behind before continuing on.

Serenity sensed the intention of her brother's companion as he brushed by her. It mingled a bit with the empathic link that she and her brother had at times and helped her understand Nova's actions. She followed behind at a pace that kept the cat close but enough to not overtake him in the slightest. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the two came upon an expansive area just past the castle's outer wall which was still fortified, if lightly. The two guards at the entrance snapped to attention at the sight of their Princess and their commander's familiar. Serenity merely strode past them, close behind Nova. The sight she took in was one that she had seen more often than not over the last few years.

Kaneda, now a strapping young man of 21, stood atop a small field of thin poles which jutted from the ground at various angles. All of a sudden, the air surrounding the young man became filled with various forms of demons all heading for the young Lunar Knight. Without so much as a word, Kaneda leapt from his precarious perch and headed for the minions of Hell. In one fluid motion, he withdrew his sword and sliced an amorphous and multitentacled youma in half laterally before it had any chance to react. As the rest of its comrades wasted a look back to see its quick end, Kaneda took the advantage to gain ground on his next target. He headed for a chimera whose snake-headed tail was preparing to lash out, fangs bared; he dodged easily to one side as a ray of lightning shot forth, keeping his balance at all times on the tiny beams even as those around him splintered into nothingness from the blast, and cleanly severed the snake head from the body. He quickly followed up the attack by embedding his sword in the creature's back and used his momentum to propel his jump which quickly cleared the monster's immediate vicinity. As the chimera roared in pain and turned to futilely swipe at him, his eyes glowed black momentarily before he shouted, "Lunar Shroud" and suddenly the chimera was masked from view. He followed this by squeezing his hand shut as he landed from his jump and the globe of darkness winked out along with the chimera. His sword flew back to his hand afterwards, being immune to the spell's effect. His eyes, now back to their normal hue, fixed themselves on the young man's next and final target: a lumbering hulk of a youma whose body weight had already smashed through the poles supporting it and was slowly making its way towards him. He simply shook his head, running headlong towards the beast. Just as he was upon the youma, he vaulted to well behind it and intoned, "Guardian Tri-form." As soon as he landed, his body split into himself and two duplicates which quickly dissected the confused demon with quick combinations of jabs and slashes with their swords. Afterwards, Kaneda recalled his 'clones' and smirked, shaking his head. "Idiots never knew what hit 'em." It was at this point he heard a round of childish laughter and applause. He looked across the field to see his sister standing next to Nova clapping and giggling up a storm.

"That was wonderful Kane-chan. I think you set another record for that round," said Serenity through her giggling.

Kaneda only sighed and looked down before clearing the distance between him and his sister in one leap. After alighting in front of her without a sound he looked at her rather annoyed. "What have I told you about calling me that, Serenity? I hate that name!"

The Princess looked cowed and wilted at her brother's words. "I'm sorry onii-sama. I just like calling you that. It just makes me feel closer to you somehow," whispered the young Serenity.

At that, Kaneda's features noticeably softened. "It's alright, Serenity. I'm sorry for blowing up about it." He gently caressed her cheek with his calloused hand. She moved into the gesture, noticeably relaxing as she sighed at her brother's gentle touch. "I've just been really stressed lately."

"Karina again?"

Kaneda only scoffed as he motioned for them to return into the castle proper. As the three started walking he began, "Who else? I swear if it weren't for that blasted prophecy, I wouldn't have to give that pompous, narcissistic tomboy a second look."

"Oh come now, she can't be that bad! She is arguably one of the most beautiful women in either kingdom and by far the strongest Senshi."

He sighed at that. "Serenity, since when have either of those two things mattered to me when it comes to choosing a wife? You know my personality enough to tell me that much."

"Ok, so you have a point. You don't really care about either. But so what? Every other male in the entire Kingdom thinks that way."

"Even your precious Endymion," he asked, treating the name as if the Terran Prince was Evil Incarnate.

"Oh come off it already, Kaneda. You know as well as anyone how he treats me. Despite what you think of him, he has been nothing but perfect to me ever since we began courting a year ago. But you're evading the topic. Now, what's so wrong about Karina?"

"On the surface? Nothing. She is well-mannered, polite and even-tempered to everyone she meets. The problem is when we are together she's completely different. She's quick to jealousy, completely pompous about being the sole heir to the Solar Kingdom line and worse about being such a powerful Senshi. She continually taunts that she can best me anytime while transformed even though she knows better than anyone that that is only if I let her. It's easier that way. It's much better than having the Court mages have to rebuild the inner wall every time I make her angry. Which is sadly more often than not." At this point he sighed deeply as he stopped and turned to his sister. "To be honest, Serenity, unless she mellows out soon, I'm going to try to annul this engagement, prophecy be damned. I like her a lot when she's not angry. I'm not sure if I love her yet. Which is probably because I won't let my guard down around her enough to give her a chance yet. And I won't until she mellows out...a lot."

"Oh, Kaneda. I had no idea! While she was a bit arrogant at first, she's been much better now. I had figured you would've been doing better with her since you hadn't spoken of her to me recently and her mood had improved."

"It's alright, Serenity. We can't expect everyone to have a storybook romance. But once she and I resolve our differences, the Golden Millenium of our two kingdoms will finally be a reality."

***

Usagi bolted awake at that. 'Golden Millenium? I wonder what that is? I'll have to ask Rei to do a fire reading before the next meeting.' With that thought firmly in place she tried in vain to go back to sleep for the remaining hours of the night.

***

After the 'honeymoon', which consisted of everyone minus the newlyweds sleeping at the Saotome residence for the night and Ranma and Akane having their respective ways with one another, Soun gathered the lovebirds together so that he could make an announcement. "Ranma, Akane," he began, being as serious as possible, "in order to keep you lives containing some semblance of sanity, you have been transferred to Juuban High School for your senior year and will live with Akane's cousin Mizuno Ami and her mother until you can support yourselves and move out. If you consider this carefully, you'll see that it is in your best interest."

The two martial artists simply blinked like a pair of deer in headlights, nodding dumbly. After the stupor susided, however, the protests came, "Whadda ya mean? What's this about kickin' us out?"

"Would you rather still be here when all your ex-inaazukes and rivals return," smirked Nabiki.

"Um, good point. C'mon Akane, let's get packed."

"Right behind you, Ranma."

A mutually resounding *SLAM* from both the teens' doors could be moments later as the two youths hurriedly packed their meager belongings into their respective packs. They returned shortly after, packs at the ready, to give their families a joyous yet sad farwell.

"Goodbye, imoutu-chan. I hope everything works out."

"Nice going, sis. I never knew ya had it in you. Good luck. You're gonna need it."

"My baby girl's leaving her daddy...WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Farewell, Akane-chan. Be sure my son remains a man amongst men."

"Goodbye, Akane."

"So long, boy. Make me proud."

"Goodbye, Ranma-kun. I hope you have a safe journey."

"Later onii-chan. Take care of my sister."

Soun's demon head resounded, "YOU'D BETTER KEEP AKANE SAFE...OR ELSE."

"Or else what, balloon head?"

"..."

"That's what I thought." It was then that Ranma stood before the one person he would miss the most. "Bye, mom."

"Goodbye, son. This will be hard on both of us. However, I have something I wish you to remember your mother by." With that, she proceeded to kneel before her son, laying the sheathed Saotome honor blade in both her palms. Her head tilted upwards from its bowed posture to look him in the eye stating, "It is your job now to carry on the honor of the Saotome clan. Guard this and our honor well, my son."

"I will, mom." He then proceeded to hug her and after releasing the embrace, pulled another katana from seemingly nowhere. At everyone's astonished expressions, he said, "Mousse taught me the basics of his hidden weapons techniques in gratitude after Jusendo. But that's beside the point." He the went through the same motions as his mother had previously and presented the beautifully ornamented katana to her. "I just couldn't leave you without giving you a way to keep baka-oyaji in line" he said as he smiled evilly in his father's general direction. Genma merely swallowed loudly as his wife greedily accepted her son's precious gift.

By this time, Akane was getting impatient and quickly made it known to all present. "C'mon already, Ranma. We should get to the station before the train leaves." With that, and without waiting for any rebuttal, she burst from her home and out into the sunshine.

Resignedly, Ranma turned back to his wife just in time to see her exit the building. He scooped his pack to follow and flung it over his shoulder as he hurried out the door, quickly catching up to her. Once in striking range, tackled a highly surprised Akane and cradled her in his arms as he proceeded to roof-hop to the train station. Unlike the majority of times he had done this in the past, he noticed that for once, praise Kami-sama, that Akane wasn't struggling in his arms. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She had snuggled as closely to his body as a human with a backpack on their should possibly could. When they finally reached the train station, he put her down and awaited the inevitable appearance of Mallet-sama...which never came. He very quizzically stared at his wife's retreating form, shrugged and quickly jogged to catch up to her once again. He decided to let ther matter drop because, unlike popular Neriman opinion, he was not a masochist.

The pair quickly boarded the train and found a pair of seats in one of the forward cars. They quickly stowed their luggage and scanned the car for available seating. The closest available for both of them, and still near their luggage was two seats by a window. This same window had a tall ebony-haired gentleman slightly older than them staring forlornly out the window. Ranma shrugged and the two of them headed to the seats, Ranma taking the one by the window, Akane, the one directly in front of the other man. Man in question?...one Chiba Mamoru.

Once the pair was able to take stock of the black-haired, twenty-something Terran Knight equally strong and polarized emotions arose within the two Neriman martial artists: Ranma wanted to kill him and Akane to befriend him. Acting on this instinct, Akane decided to strike up a conversation with their fellow passenger.

"Hello there."

"Um, hello," said a very distracted and slightly disturbed Mamoru. While politeness to strangers was one thing, he was unsure what to make of the two people in front of him. The young woman seemed quite jovial, but the young man to her right seemed to be attempting to slay him with the power of his stare alone.

"What's your name?"

"Hmm? Oh, Chiba Mamoru. You?"

"Ten-Saotome Akane."

Mamoru then turned to the seemingly belligerent young man, "And you?"

In the iciest voice possible he replied, "Saotome Ranma."

It was at this time that Akane noticed how her husband was looking at their new acquaintance. Greatly annoyed and, at the same time, perplexed by his actions she decided, for simplicity's sake, to settle for a quick jab with her elbow to his ribs. "Be nice!"

Mamoru simply ignored the couple's 'problem' and continued. "So, with the same family name, you're brother and sister, right?"

Both martial artists turned a healthy shade of red. It was Akane who found her voice first, "Um...no actually."

"No? Well if you're not blood relation, what are you then? You certainly can't be...married," he finished, finally noticing the two golden bands on each of their hands. Akane blushed even deeper as she nodded an affirmative, not trusting her voice again. Mamoru simply smiled at the blushing bride. "So how long have you been married?"

"This is the third day including the wedding day."

"Ah. So this is why you're headed to Juuban. Starting live over together. Am I right?"

"Basically. We're meeting a cousin of mine at the station. We'll live with her until we can find a place to call our own."

"Oh, ok. I live there already and my girlfriend, Usagi, and her friends are going to meet me. Will you still be in high school?"

"Yes, both of us will be seniors this year."

"That's great! So will all of them. I'm sure that most of them will be there when I arrive, it's a sort of welcome home thing. I'd be more than willing to introduce you to all of them if you'd like."

"Could you really? That'd be wonderful."

Mamoru smiled, "It would be my pleasure, Saotome-san."

"Thanks, and please, just Akane." At the request Mamoru simply nodded. 


	3. Arrivals, Favors, & Training

At the Juuban train station, one blue-haired genius awaited the arrival of her cousin and her cousin's husband. Sighing the part-time super herione of love and justice looked at her watch for about the tenth time in the last five minutes. While Ami hadn't seen Akane in around ten years, meeting her cousin wasn't her only reason for being here. Nor was it the reason that the other three girls, and the one yet to arrive, were accompanying there and standing somewhat impatiently on the platform. It was that time she heard it, a restrained group of snickers directly behind her, and she inwardly fumed. Spinning on her heel and doing an about face that would make any drill sergeant proud, she glared at the three friends she had brought who had magically stopped their restrained laughter and were each finding a different portion of the train station interesting. Aino Minako, with her long golden hair streaming down her back, seemed to think that the rafters were a very intriguing sight to behold. In the middle of the three, Kino Makoto her chocolate brown hair tied in a loose ponytail by a distinctive green ribbon, was turned around staring at the entrance seemingly looking for something or someone. Finally, Hino Rei was looking the other way down the track toward the next station as though Mamoru, Ranma and Akane were coming from another direction.

"Alright, just what is so funny, you three?"

Makoto turned around her face sporting a rather self-assured smirk as her emerald eyes twinkled in barely contained mirth, "Why nothing Ami-chan, why would you ever think that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you three are trying very hard to not sound like a pack of hyenas?"

"Well, maybe we just think it's funny that you seem so impatient to meet two people, one of which you've never met. The other one you haven't seen since your aunt's funeral ten years ago." At the mention of her Aunt Kimiko's death, Ami looked crestfallen and sad. "Oh, Kami-sama, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you still felt that way about your aunt."

Ami sighed in order to try and banish her sadness before everyone arrived. "It's alright, Rei. It's just that, while she was only a housewife, my aunt taught me that you should always reach for your dreams and do what truly makes you happy in life. It's because of her, and of course my mom's example, that I'm going to do everything I can to become a doctor once I graduate from the University."

"Oh, that's so touching. I know you'll do it, Ami. You're by far the brains of our group. If anyone can, it's you."

With that, the smile finally returned to Ami's face. "Thanks, Minako. That means alot."

It was at that time, that a yellow-streaked bullet train entered the station. As the brakes were put on, a faint hissing sound could be heard. Said train, one Tsukino Usagi, was bent over gasping for breath as her friends crowded around her.

"Gee, meatball head. Much faster and you'd break the land speed record."

"Come off it, Rei. At least let her catch her breath before start taking pot shots at her," reprimanded Makoto.

"Thanks, Mako-chan." Finally regaining herself, Usagi looked around the station seeing no train and no Mamoru in sight. "Wait, you mean I'm not late?"

"No, meatball head, for once in your existence you aren't late."

***

While the Inner Senshi were waiting patiently for their three arrivals, Mamoru and his two new companions had finished their somewhat lengthy conversation. Just then, the announcement came over the intercom that they were finally arriving at the Juuban station.

"Excuse me, for a second. I need to get my bags."

"Ok, see you soon."

"But don't hurry on our account."

At that, Akane jabbed her husband with her elbow again and muttered under her breath, "Ranma, enough already."

Once Mamoru was out of earshot, Akane turned to him and asked the question that was plaguing her the whole way here. "Ranma, what is your problem with Mamoru-san. He's being rather friendly to us and you are treating him like dirt. Explain. Now."

Ranma simply sighed. Honestly he wasn't sure, but he decided to try and explain anyways. "Honestly, Akane? I don't know. All I do know, is the second I saw him I didn't trust him at all. I can't explain it at all. I also feel like I've seen him before and, despite not knowing when or where, I feel like I wanna rip his head off."

Akane blinked. Then again. "What? Are you serious? Ranma, I've never known you to act like this. I hope you don't do this to everyone else we meet. It won't be heathly for us. But for now, let's forget that for a minute. Though, for the record, he looks very familiar to me too. Can I ask you something though? It's kind've important to me, and our future.

Ranma smiled. "But of course. My kawaii otemba can ask me anything she likes."

Akane let the old jibe, with a new twist she liked very much, go. "Ranma, will you promise me something?"

"Sure, Akane, anything. You know I'd do anything for you."

She blushed at that. "Alright. Will you promise that you won't get into anymore fights while we're here? The fianc es don't know where we are, we're married and the Kunos are locked up. I just want a quiet life with you and some brand of normalcy now that we've left all the craziness behind us."

Ranma simply sighed. "Akane, I want that too. I want you to know that. But you know as well as I do that I can't do that..." he said before he was cut off by a forlorn look and a heavy sigh as he finished, "...completely."

Akane's face brightened in hope. "Do you mean it?" Ranma only nodded in reply. "Oh, thank you, Ranma. You have no idea what that means to me." Any more was forestalled by her husband raising a finger to her lips in a need for silence which he promptly received.

Ranma smiled softly at his wife. Gone was the overly jealous, quick-tempered, irrational girl he met and now a kindhearted, understanding and loving woman remained in its stead. "Akane, I will do my utmost to give us a normal life now that we're married and away from Nerima. But you must understand that I must still uphold the ideals of Bushido and protect those weaker than myself. If it is acceptable to you, I will promise not to look for trouble but if I chance upon it or am directly challenged, then I am allowed to attack in defense of myself or those weaker than me."

"I wouldn't have expected nor accepted anything less from the great Saotome Ranma," she replied winking at him.

Smiling, Ranma stated with an air of formality, "I, Saotome Ranma heir apparent of Matsubeto Kakuto Ryu do pledge upon the honor blade of my clan that I shall not actively seek violent confrontations but will act in defense of the weaker if I come upon such a situation." After finishing, Ranma nodded his head in a solemn bow to his wife as proof of his seriousness in the matter.

As Akane nodded her agreement to the pledge, Mamoru returned bearing his luggage as he sat down and checked his wrist watch. "Well, we'll be there any minute." He then quizzically looked over his companions. "Where are your bags?"

Ranma only smirked. "Oh, don't worry about us. We're all set."

***

Back at the station, a sudden horn bellowed through the humid afternoon air. Soon the express coming from Nerima stopped and multiple sets of sliding double doors opened and passengers began spilling out onto the platform. Ami, seeing the train's arrival held up a sign with the name "Saotome" expertly scrawled on it.

***

Picking their bags up on the way out was an easy feat for the male Saotome as he alighted for a second and grabbed both before returning to terra firma. He smirked and all Akane did was shake her head and smile, "Show off."

"You know it. You want to carry yours or would you rather me," he asked as they made their way across the platform.

While Ranma and Akane were having their little discussion, Mamoru scanned the platform until he finally spotted a mop of blonde hair with two buns adorning it. At that, he called over the crowd as he waved an arm high, "Usako!"

Hearing her pet name called across the platform Usagi feverishly began looking for the voice's owner. After finding her beloved's hand waving for her, Usagi bounded over to her lover and did a very good imitation of an Amazon glomp. "Mamo-chan!!"

Ranma shuddered at the display as Akane sighed wistfully. However, when Ranma saw the hairstyle of the girl attempting her best Xian Pu impression he had the strongest urge to break the two apart and give the girl the tighest hug possible. At the same time, underneath his bangs, an eerie yellow light glowed momentarily in the center of Ranma's forehead before winking out of existence.

After a few more seconds of studying the snuggling couple, the newlyweds searched the crowd for Akane's cousin Ami. Eventually, the pair found the blue-haired genius in, as Ranma's surmised, the general starting point of the blonde Amazon-wannabe. The smiling girl wore a sky blue blouse with a pair of blue jeans and was holding a small piece of white posterboard which she had dropped down to waist level once she saw the two walk up.

Wanting to be the good hostess, Ami initiated the conversation, "Hello, I'm Mizuno Ami. You must be Ranma." She then turned to Akane. "Hi, Akane. I haven't seen you since........Auntie's....funeral." At that she hung her head slightly.

Akane hung her head slightly but recovered when she felt Ranma take her hand reassuringly and give it a gentle squeeze. She cleared her throat to banish the last of her uneasiness and said, "Yea, it certainly been a while, Ami. It seems like you've been doing well. Are you still the bubbly and athletic girl I remember?"

At that, one of the girls behind Ami chuckled. It was the one with deep brown hair, wearing a green blouse and a short tan skirt which was finished off by a pair of emerald green flats. "Ami? Athletic? You're kidding, right?"

Akane blinked. "Um, no." She turned to Ami who was slightly blushing. "Well I guess that answers that question."

It was at that time that Mamoru and Usagi finally arrived behind them. "Well, I see you've already met the people I told you about, Akane. The one in front is Mizuno Ami, and the three behind her from left to right are Aino Minako, Kino Makoto and Hino Rei. And this," he said motioning to the girl next to him, "And this is Tsukino Usagi, my girlfriend."

Something tickled in the back of Ranma's mind once again when he heard the name but mentally shrugged it off. "We already know, Ami-chan, she's Akane's cousin." He then looked to Makoto. "And stop teasing her. If she's not as athletic as she used to be, there's no shame in it." He mentally stopped himself after he defended his new cousin-in-law. Maybe it was because she was family? Oh well, just another thing to ponder later.

Akane saw Ami's continuing blush and turned to her husband, "That's enough. Stop teasing my cousin already, you baka."

"It's alright, Akane, all my friends call me that. I don't see why you and Ranma can't as well. Well, I guess we better head out."

"Akane, you gonna give me that backpack now?"

"Huh?" It was then she realized she still had the backpack Ranma gotten off the train. She blushed slightly and nodded, tossing him the bag. In one swift and fluid motion Ranma caught her bag and stowed both his and hers in the Weapons Space of the Hidden Weapons art.

Ami and the rest of the Inners were agape at the display. Everyone wanted to know where the two backpacks, that seemed to weigh a bit, disappeared. Ami simply wanted to know how Ranma seemingly rendered more than a few laws of physics obsolete. With her mouth still agape, her brained was working overtime to figure out just how Ranma did it.

"Ami-chan?...Uh, Earth to Ami-chan."

Ranma's voice clicked in through self-imposed haze and she had the humility to look embarrassed. "Gomen, Ranma. What were you saying?"

"I wanted to know how far your house was and if you needed me to carry anything for you."

"N-no, Ranma. I'm fine. My house is only a few block from here, so it's really no trouble."

"Alright, then. Lead the way, Ami-chan." Ami nodded and the newlyweds followed closely behind, walking hand-in-hand as the rest followed Mamoru and Usagi towards a nearby restaurant to celebrate the Terran prince's homecoming.

***

Once at the house, Ranma unpacked his weapons-space which at the time included 10,000 yen, the family katana, two backpacks full of supplies, some cooking utensils and a bo staff. As each item was unpacked, Ami's eyes grew wider and wider. Finally, she could no longer reign in her curiosity. "Ranma, how exactly are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Keeping all those things up your sleeves?"

Ranma laughed at that. "Is that really what you think I'm doing?" At this Ami weakly nodded. Ranma simply smiled. "You don't know any martial arts, do you." Ami simply shook her head. While she knew simple fighting techniques from her Senshi form, that could hardly be considered martial arts, right? "Well, would you like the long or the short explanation?"

"Short for now. You can give me the complicated version later."

"Alright. What you've been seeing is a rather complex chi manipulation technique. Chi, in case you didn't know, is one's own life energy. Well what you do with the technique is wrap the object in a bubble of your chi and then reabsorb the bubble back into your aura thus hiding the object."

"But you had a katana in there; doesn't that hurt?"

Ranma chuckled. "Oh that? You wanna see the scar it left me?" Her eyes widened in horror as Ranma smiled broadly and held up both hands in a placating gesture, "Kidding! I was just kidding!" Ami's features returned to normal as Ranma continued, "No, it doesn't hurt. The bubble the katana is wrapped in is unbreakable and, for all intents and purposes, once I reabsorb the bubble the katana no longer exists."

"So it would seem. Well, thank you for the information, Ranma."

"You're welcome. Say, have you seen Akane?"

"She went to look around when you started unpacking."

"Oh, thanks." With that Ranma went in search of his errant wife.

As Ami watched Ranma's receding form part of her knew that her life would only get more interesting.

***

About an hour after dispersing from a modest celebratory meal, a Shinto priestess-in-training, of a well-known shrine in the heart of the Juuban district, was sweeping the courtyard as a young blonde girl with two blonde tails strolled in and greeted her sweeping compatriot.

"Hey Rei. How's it goin'?"

The young woman looked up from her duties with a surprised look. "Usagi? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be with Mamoru. And besides, the meeting isn't for almost two hours and you've never been early. "

The young Senshi of the Moon sighed. "I am well aware of that, Rei. There's no need to patronize me."

The raven-haired girl sheepishly replied, "Sorry. Now, why're you here?"

"Well, I've been having these dreams lately and I was wondering if you'd do a fire reading about them."

***

Saotome Akane took in the bedroom that was to serve as Rama's and her temporary dwelling. The room was slightly spacious for two but with only one closet between them and one queen-size bed to sleep on. At that thought, the budding martial artist, in only the Nerima sense of the term, blushed rather profusely. When two strong arms draped themselves ever so gently over her shoulders, she unconsciously took one of them and trhew it and its owner across the room. She instantly regretted the move the second a black pigtail was seen.

Ranma landed on his head on the opposite side of the bed. The resounding crash could be heard throughout the house and quickly drew a bewildered and extremely worried Ami to the scene. The concerned look on her face became one of puzzlement as her eyes went from Ranma, to Akane, then back again. Finally she asked, "What just happened?"

Akane opened her mouth to apologize, but Ranma's quick thinking, for once in his life, beat her to the punch. "I'm sorry, Ami-chan. I forgot to tell Akane not to practice techniques in the house while we were staying here."

"Practice?"

"That's right. I've been showing her quick ways to disable surprise assailants," he coolly replied. "However, as I said before, I forgot to tell her we'd be forestalling that portion of her training until we moved out into our own place," he said as he gave a knowing look to Akane who promptly blushed.

"Well if everything's alright, then I'll leave the two of you alone." With that, their young hostess withdrew from the couple's bedroom.

After making sure that her cousin was well out of earshot, Akane look at Ranma with a slightly puzzled look. "Why did you just lie to my cousin?"

"Would you rather tell her the real reason why I was doing a headstand with my neck?" Only silence met his inquiry. "That's what I thought." He then sighed slightly and moved to the bed, sitting on one corner as he looked up at his new wife. "Akane, I thought we had finally moved past all of that. I wish you wouldn't do things like that. It makes me feel like you really didn't want this." His arms slowly went wide in a gesture which sent an all too clear message to the woman in the room.

Akane lowered her head in shame and sat next to Ranma, her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Oh, Ranma. I'm so sorry." Her voice broke slightly as though she would start crying any second. "I-I do trust you, and I want this to work out more than anything. I'm sorry. I was in such a lull when you came in that when you went to hug me I reflexed."

Ranma turned in the loose embrace so he could look at her directly. "It's alright, I forgive you. Just try not to let it happen again, ok?" After a bit of emphatic nodding he smiled. "Good." He then gave her a quick kiss and slithered out of her grasp in order to go get their things from downstairs.

Before he was able to leave however, Akane turned towards his retreating form asking, "Ranma?"

"Yea?"

"Were you serious about training me, or was that just for Ami's sake?"

"Both." At his response, her countenance visibly brightened. However, Ranma forestalled any reply by continuing, "But, only if you commit yourself one-hundred percent to this. I can't have you half-ass anything if I teach you. You know as well as I do just how hard I worked to get where I am, and I will expect just as much from you. If you don't think you can handle the regimen, tell me now."

"No, I want to do this. It means alot to me that you've agreed to let me train. I hope this means you'll stop dodging when we spar."

"Oh, no. We won't be sparring for a very long time."

"But..."

"No buts. Either we do this my way or not at all. Understand?"

At that Akane visibly wilted. "Alright."

"Good. Now, I'm gonna get our stuff and will unpack. Afterwards we'll start. Ok?"

At that, a blur shot past him that he recognized as his wife's form. 'Now if I can only get her to do that in a fight,' he thought as he shook his head and followed suit.

***

"So, let me get this straight: you believe memories of the Silver Millennium are returning and they feature an older brother whom you never knew about before?"

Usagi simply nodded, "Yep, that's about the jist of it."

"And this older brother, you said his name was Kaneda," Rei continued somewhat questioning the name despite its vague familiarity, "was in an arranged marriage with someone from another kingdom, was to usurp you as eventual ruler, and begin something called the Golden Millennium?" Rei looked at her Princess as if she'd grown five more heads since this discussion began. "Usagi, Princess, no offense meant by this, but have you cracked? Memories I can understand, but the rest?"

Usagi only hung her head and spoke in a bare whisper, "I know, Rei, I know. It doesn't make any sense to me either. That's why I'm here. I need your help. I'd spoken to Luna already and she said that she did remember Kaneda but never told us because we hadn't found him when we discovered that I was the Princess. She told me that we should've been found at relatively the same time. When we weren't, they didn't want to distract me since we were still in the midst of the war with Beryll. She also said that if he has be reborn to this time, then now is the only time he would be able to regain his memories of our timeline." Usagi looked up and met Rei's eyes, silently pleading for assistance before stating, "Oh, please, Rei. You have no idea how much this has been tearing me up inside lately. I just want to know if he's here. If not, I can at least have the comfort of knowing I had a brother then, if not now."

At her Princess's impassioned plea Rei smiled softly. "Of course, Usagi." The shrine maiden sympathized with Usagi. After all, it's not everday you find out you had a brother who might be alive. Granted, this one was from a lifetime long dead, but still the fact remained. That coupled with the fact that everyone had assumed, including her Princess, that everyone still alive from the Silver Millennium was reborn and given back their memories. This alone made finding out if the Prince was alive all the more important. With those thoughts in mind, Rei took her leave of Usagi to begin her fire reading.

***

Outside the Mizuno household, after moving all their possessions into their bedroom, two martial artists had assumed the lotus position and were discussing the upcoming training regimen which one of them would be undertaking shortly.

"So, which aspects of my Art do I need to work on, 'Sensei'", questioned a smirking Akane.

"Speed, defense, ki manipulation, ki enhanced techniques and standard ki techniques."

Akane simply blinked at Ranma's flat reply. Gone was the arrogant attitude she both attributed to and loathed about him and in its place was a confident, no nonsense persona which seemed to be taking her request for training quite seriously. "So, what will be fixing first?"

"It's not necessarily going to be like that."

"Huh?"

"Lemme try to explain and stop me if you get confused," Akane nodded and gave a forceful mental shrug to banish her anger about him implying she was dumb. "The way you'll be trained won't proceed the way you're thinking. There really is no way to simply start with one fault and then just move on to the next. Everything I stated about the faults with your Art are interconnected. If, for instance, I started by teaching you ki manipulation then you would unconciously begin using it to improve both your speed and defense while at the same time it would open the door to performing standard ki techniques, and ki enhanced techniques. Understand so far?" Again she only nodded. "The same could be said for any of the other aspects you need to work on. To some degree they are all interconnected even if only slightly at times. Although the only places we can't start with are those that require knowledge in ki manipulation to fix. So I guess the real question is what would you prefer your starting point to be."

It took Akane all of a nanosecond to formulate her response. "Speed."

"Interesting choice, if not surprising. Care to explain why?"

"I want to be able to clobber you without you letting me."

At that Ranma smirked, "Who spilled the beans?"

"Nabiki."

"Figures. How much did you pay her?"

"Not a single yen. She didn't stop talking to Kasumi once after I knocked you into the stratosphere. I was walking up behind her and she didn't hear me. You should have seen her face. I'm not sure whether it was fear or shock but she looked like she was about to meet her maker", Akane gave an evil little smirk at her last statement.

Ranma chuckled, "Well I'll be damned. Never thought I'd see the day Nabiki couldn't keep information under lock and key. I wish you'd had a camera. The look on her face must've been priceless."

Akane smirked at that. Everyone that knew her realized very quickly that Nabiki never gave any form of charity, so this kind of inadvertant slip, both monetarily and emotionally, was highly uncharacteristic of Nerima's resident Ice Queen. "So, back to the task at hand. What shall I do first, sensei?"

"Run through every kata you know."

Akane inwardly grimaced at that. She knew why he was doing it, but she didn't like the fact that he'd probably belittle her afterwards. Despite his good intentions, she knew he'd probably put his foot in his mouth again. But regardless, the exercise was meant to gauge her level of mastery. Given how well Ranma could do these kata, she didn't feel like bolstering his already inflated ego. Nevertheless, she had agreed to his terms, so she threw herslef into the complex patterns of strikes, blocks, kicks and punches. She endured for over two grueling hours until the last technique in her final kata. She doubled over, panting as her lungs screamed of larger quantities of oxygen. It was only then that she felt a strong yet gentle hand rest on her shoulder. A sudden and subtle warmth began in her shoulder and slowly encompassed her being as it restored her vitality and energy. She looked up and smiled seeing the caring eyes of her husband.

"You okay?"

"Yea, thanks to you."

""Well, do you want to know how you did?"

She sighed deeply and resumed her normal posture before responding, "I guess so."

"Hey, why the long face?"

"Because I'm sure I know what you'll say."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

Akane cleared her throat and did the best impression of a bragging Ranma that she could. "Well, you didn't do so bad for an uncute tomboy. You're as slow as a sloth and have the legs of a moose..." She paused gauging his expression before asking," So how close am I so far?"

"Pretty far off thus far. Granted you are a cute tomboy, more specifically my cute tomboy, and you weren't as good as the rest of the gang back home," seeing her bristle he held a hand up to forestall her, "But I wasn't going to say any of that. What I was going to say was that you visibly improved your control since the last time I critiqued you, and while it's a good start, you'll need to improve more before we start your ki training."

Akane just sat there stunned. While each of them had grown over the last year, and much of their vices had withered, she knew he still had an overly big head and continually put his foot in his mouth. Despite her preconceived conclusions, she seemed to have been surprised yet again by her husband. Finally blinking out of her haze, she replied, "Um, alright. So, what will I be doing first, then?"

Ranma looked around the large Mizuno backyard for something suitable to work with. Eventually his eyes rested upon a cherry blossom tree of substantial girth nestled in one of the far corners of the yard. Looking back towards Akane as he pointed out the tree he said, "You're going to punch that tree. But first I need to get something. I'll be back in a sec, ok?"

Akane simply shrugged as she saw Ranma already turning back towards the house. "Ok, just hurry up."

As Ranma reached the door, it slid open and a blue-haired teen appeared on the other side. "Ah, Ami-chan. Just the girl I was looking for." Ami blushed slightly at the comment as Ranma continued unabated. "You wouldn't happen to have a stopwatch that can work as a timer, would you?"

"A timer? You mean for preset countdowns?" After Ranma nodded she continued, "Sure. My mom has one in the kitchen. I'll go get it." With that, she dashed back into the house coming out soon after, stopwatch in hand. "Here you go. Just out of curiosity, though, what did you need it for?"

"I'm going to use it to time the rate of Akane's punches. By the way, why'd your mom have this in the kitchen? Did she use it to time her cooking or something?"

"Actually, no." Not knowing exactly why, Ami's cheeks reddened as she continued her explanation, "She used it to help me learn how to properly check heart rate, pulse and rhythm."

"Hmmm. So, wanna be a doctor then?"

Ami nodded in reply and before either could continue further, a shout was heard from across the yard. "C'mon, Ranma. Stop bugging my cousin already and get over here."

A sardonic smile played across Ranma's features as he bowed politely before turning to rejoin Akane. Before he made it five steps from the house he heard Ami's soft voice again. "Ranma!" She waited until his head turned towards her before continuing, "I was originally coming out to tell you that I would be gone for a few hours and that my mother would be back in time to cook dinner. I'll be home by then."

"Will do, Ami-chan, and thanks again for the stopwatch. See ya soon." Ranma winked before returning his gaze to his wife and for a brief instant, Ami felt her heart flutter in her chest. She paused, utterly perplexed as an overwhelming sense of longing pervaded her being. Shaking it off and shelving the feeling for a later time, she made her way to the bus stop and eventually the Hikawa Shrine.

Meanwhile, back in the Mizuno's yard, Ranma was carefully explaining what the purpose was of what Akane was about to do. "Alright, so I'm sure you're obviously waiting for an explaination as to why I went to get this," he started, waving the stopwatch slightly to gain Akane's attention.

"And I'm still waiting, thank you," she quipped with a light smirk.

"Well," he continued, vainly trying to ignore the cute look on his wife's face, "I'm going to time your punching rate so we have something to build off of while we work on your speed. Ok?"

"That makes sense."

"Glad you think so," he remarked, a decided twinkle in his eye. He set the timer and then looked up, "Alright, now get into a ready stance in front of the tree and I'll start the timer. I won't say anything, so start when you hear the beep and stop when you hear it go off again."

"Ok." With that, Akane took up position in front of the tree and awaited the signal. The second an electronic beep was heard, she laid into the tree, each punch chipping bark away from the helpless tree until the shrill alarm signaling the drills completion sounded. With hope in her eyes, she turned to her husband, "And? How'd I do?"

In the same detached nature as when he started, he looked at her and stated in a flat tone, "Unfortunately not that great. However, you did do better than I thought you would, the first time out. Your fundamental problem is two-fold, as it's always been. Your body is way too tense and you focus too much energy towards each individual strike. And the evidence is right in front of you." He motioned to the bare wood where bark had been stripped away. "With this drill, there should be almost no physical damage to the tree itself. You only barely need to tap the tree for a hit to register instead of treating the tree like one of your cinder blocks back home. Understand?"

As Ranma went over his observations of her current skill, Akane considerably wilted. She knew he was right. She was so intent on wanting to prove herself that she let her body default into its normal pattern of operation: beat the opponent into submission through brute strength. Her mood only barely improved when he said that she'd done better than he thought she would. But the rest was damning evidence of how far she had to go. "Yea, I understand. I'll try to do better next time, Ranma. I just want you to be proud of me and see that I can be as good as the rest."

Ranma sighed slightly, "Akane, I'm already proud of you for wanting to improve and being open minded about it. I'll do my best to make you the best you can be. Don't try to impress me, just let it come naturally. Ok? Now, get ready. We're going again." 


	4. A Meeting of the Minds

On the other side of Juuban, in the confines of the Hikawa shrine, eight teenage girls and two talking felines brought a weekly meeting to order. "So have there been any breaches of negative energy recently," asked an aquamarine-haired young woman to all assembled.

"None in months," answered a familiar blue-haired genius. "In fact, I'm beginning to wonder whether we should stop these meetings altogether. We've already faced Galaxia, the last major threat that Pluto saw before Crystal Tokyo, so why do we continue coming when we all know there isn't going to be any attacks."

"There will be one, and probably soon."

Everyone's attention instantly shifted to the voice's speaker. They all peered intently at the resident priestess-in-training, waiting on bated breath for an explanation.

When none seemed forthcoming, Ami questioned, "Well, what is it, Rei? And not to belittle your skill with your premonitions, but how would you know this and not Pluto? I mean, she is our direct link to the Gates of Time! How could she have not seen this coming?"

Rei only sighed at the question she was wondering herself. "I wish I could answer that, Ami. Honestly, I was just as surprised as anyone else. But my visions have never led me wrong before."

"It's alright, Rei," chimed in Makoto from across the table, "but you have to admit, we're all a little shocked. We figured we'd have to clean up the dregs of the youma created by our old enemies until Crystal Tokyo. From what you're saying, the enemies are still coming. It's just really hard to swallow that after all our hard work, we still have to do more."

"Then that just means that our job isn't done and we will not stop until it is." The entire room changed their perspective to the new speaker, their Princess and future Queen. Rei and the rest stared in various degrees of slackjawed amazement at what their oftimes reluctant leader just said. "What?" When the Senshi's reluctant leader received no answer, she continued on, "Am I not allowed to act responsible unless we are so far in over our heads that it forces me to act well past my age?"

"Of course not, Usagi. It's just that seeing you act this way is a real shock, that's all," said Michiru evenly. "We've always collectively seen you as a high school girl first, and a responsible warrior and leader second. We're all guilty of underestimating you, and I am personally sorry for that slight."

At the young woman's apology, and the nods of assent from around the room, Usagi's face visibly softened. "It's alright. Now, Rei. You were saying?"

"Um, right. Anyways, in a recent vision I saw two individuals, faces both silhouetted, fighting these massive behemoths of demons. The young man was wearing Silver Millennium-style armor and the young girl was in Senshi garb."

Again the room fell eerily silent. Finally a short-haired blonde asked, "A senshi? But how can that be? All the senshi are accounted for, aren't they?"

Rei nods. "That's true, Haruka. All the planets, save Earth, are accounted for in our ranks. To the best of our knowledge, there has never been a Sailor Senshi of the Earth, only Sailor Moon. Now, the girl's sigil was very strange. I don't ever remember seeing it either in my memories of the past or in anything Ami has ever shown me from the Mercury computer."

At this, Ami cocked her head slightly. "What did her sigil look like, Rei?"

"It was a bright yellow dot with a yellow ring encircling it."

Ami stopped short. "You're sure." Rei only nodded. "Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE, Rei?"

Now the priestess-to-be was getting annoyed. "Of course I am; why? What does that sigil represent?"

"The Sun."

"Kami-sama, tell me you're kidding."

"I wish I was, Rei. And if previous villains are any indication, they are proportionally stronger in relation to the new Senshi we find. Given what this girl is the Senshi of...they will be by far the strongest enemy we may ever face."

"Well, I will do my best to research this Sailor Sun for the next meeting. What about the other person in your vision, Rei? The masculine figure in the Lunar armor."

"Surprisingly, he had a sigil too. And it was just like Usagi's."

Minako got wide-eyed for a second as she realized the implications. "But the only people who have the sigil are..."

Rei nods, "Members of the Royal family. I know. It means that Usagi has a relative we didn't know about."

At that, the room explodes with a flurry of incoherent speculation. Usagi looked almost distraught at the thought and whispered under the multitude of voices, "Kaneda."

After about thirty seconds of Rei trying to get everything back under control to continue, Luna finally decided to take matters into her own hands. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Instantly the room quieted, and no one even seemed to be breathing, there was so little noise to be heard. "Now, I know this raises alot of questions. Artemis and I will answer them." Before the torrent could begin she continued, "But NOT now. That is final. We will discuss the Prince at the next meeting. For now, we must decide on a plan of action until he and the new Senshi are found. We will need to restart the patrol cycle. Haruka, Michiru...You will cover the east side of the district by yourselves on Monday Wednesday and Friday since your school is close by and it will not deter you much. Makoto, Minako...You will take the western half of the district those days. Usagi and Hotaru will take the western half on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Rei and Ami will take the eastern half on those days. We will all be patrolling throughout Sunday. Mamoru, I would like you to speak to the four Generals and see if they have any information for finding the Prince, or telling us of this new threat."

The young man nodded his compliance. "It may be difficult, since I have not spoken to them in such a long time, but I will do my best to see what they know."

"I thank you for that, Mamoru. Now, if there are any questions, not pertaining to the Prince or the new Senshi, please ask them now," continued Luna. "Alright then, everyone, you know your duties, we will reconvene next week."

With that, everyone went began cleaning up the meeting room and languidly filing out until only Luna, Usagi and Rei remained. The budding priestess looked at her Princess quizzically, "Yes, Usagi? Was there something you still needed?"

"I-I just need to know, Rei. This fire reading, did it give any more information on my brother than what was discussed at the meeting? It just feels so strange, I feel so alone now that I know I have a brother, but he's not here with me."

"But what about Shingo? I mean I know you don't harbor much love for him, but is still your brother."

"I know, but you know what I mean. I have a brother from our time, not just the here and now. I have someone that I can truly confide all my secrets to, especially those regarding our group, that I didn't before. I hope you can understand that."

Rei nodded in reply. "I do. But just so you know, I did get a few things in the fire, but they didn't seem related to your brother. I don't want to say anything until I do a few more sessions with the Holy Fire and see what comes of them."

"Alright, Rei. Thank you for understanding. Call me if anything comes up."

"I will, Usagi. Take care."

"You too. C'mon, Luna, lets go." With that Usagi moved towards the door, Luna alighting on her shoulder as she walked past the moon cat on her way out the door and back to her family. 


	5. Of Innocence Lost and Mothers Found

As had become the norm over the last few weeks, Akane's dream-form traversed the Solar System until she came upon the greatest celestial body in the Earth's minute corner of the cosmos. As always, she had relatively the same conversation with a silohuetted figure. However, like only the last time she dreamed this, she was now once again transported to a life and existence that was very much not her own.

Karina Sol, only child of the Solar Kingdom's royal line, dashed across the expansive grounds of her home as she chased an errant pyrefly. The winged insect could only be found here on Sol, since the star's corona was what actually gave the butterfly-like creatures their life. Their bodies, while small, looked to be composed of a living fire that brightened anything near them in an almost ethereal glow. And Karina, now five, was determined to catch one. As the little one continued her hunt, a young woman entered the from the right through an ornate archway. The woman, dressed in silks of crimson, white and gold, watched the little girl romp unabashedly through the garden after her prize. She smiled warmly until finally, at some unknown signal, called out to the little one before her. "Karina! Leave the poor creature alone, little one."

At the woman's call, the young fire-haired child look in the speaker's general direction. The girl's eyes filled with mirth and she bolted towards the woman, the pyrefly instantly forgotten. "Momma!" As she reached the queen's feet, she instantly grappled her in as fierce a hug as only one her age could perform.

Herania Sol looked down as her child attempted to cut off the circulation to her right leg. Her smile never left her face as she ran her hands through the soft crimson hair adorning her daughter's head. "How are you today, little one?"

"Oh, I'm fine, Momma. Tarin told me I could play in the gardens for a while. He said I would be safe here while he did...something with a woman he saw as we made our walk across the front courtyard."

Herania, now kneeling in front of her daughter, smiled mirthfully at the admission Karina had just given her. She had always known Tarin to be a bit loose when it came to responsibilities, but this almost chauvinistic encounter, while humorous, seemed wholly unlike him. "Oh he did, did he? Well we will have to fix that, won't we Kari," asked the queen as a mischevious look crossed her face.

Karina knew what that smile meant: her mother was going to have a little fun and bend a rule or two to do it. She also knew that she would be helping. At that thought, Karina adopted a similar visage to that of her mother. The queen opened her arms wide and quickly scooped her daughter into an embrace in which she carried the young princess through halls towards the palace's central, and frontmost courtyard.

When the queen arrived, she set Karina down and silently motioned for her to walk behind her so that the young girl obscured from the view of people directly in front of them. She then set out in her search for the wayward caretaker. Finally, after much searching, the two came upon the young man standing under the shade of a corona tree talking softly to what seemed to be a Vulcan-born noblewoman. The girl's tanned skin was too dark for her to be born on Sol, and the deep brown hair and sapphire eyes were also a dead giveaway to this young woman's birthplace. Herania smiled as she walked up to the budding couple and pronounced, "Master Tarin, would you be so kind as to tell me where my daughter is? I wish to see her."

The young man went rigid the second he heard his liege's voice. Shame overwhelmed him as he turned to see a rather stern-faced leader taking in every detail of his person. He did his best not to squirm under her piercing gaze since he knew he had been caught red-handed shirking his duty as the princess's attendant. "I-I am sorry, your Majesty. The princess is not with me at this time..."

"I can see that, Tarin. While we are not at war, it is still imperative that you keep a close eye on Karina. She is, after all, the only heir to the Solar Kingdom. What do you think I would do if something were to befall her while her watcher was busying himself with another female of this court?"

At this, the man began visibly sweating as his mind began assaulting him of images of just what a truly irate Queen Herania would do to him if something happened to her only daughter. To say his mind was putting him through quite a gruesome display would have been a severe understatement. "I," he cleared his throat to help calm his nerves, "understand, your Majesty. I am sorry. It won't happen again, I swear it."

"You had hope not for both my daughter's sake and your own." At that statement, the man knelt before her, his head down. It was at this time that Karina moved herself from behind her mother and tackled the young man as she launched into a fit of giggles. "You are lucky she likes you so much, Tarin."

The young girl smiled at him as she whispered, "Please don't leave me alone again, Tarin. Please?" Her eyes shone with innocent worry as they looked up at him.

Taken aback by how the whole scenario had just played out, the young man stammered, "O-of course, Princess. I promise you."

That made her smile widen even more. With that, the scene began to dissolve around Akane until finally she ended up, back where she started, staring down the apparition of 'herself'. "Why?" It was a simple question that, for Akane at least, would necessitate a rather complex response. When the 'ghost' failed to respond, she decided to ammend her statement. "Why show me such happy memories of a mother I never had? Just to rub it in my face? For being a supposedly previous incarnation of myself you're pretty sadistic, you know that?"

That got her talking. "Of course not, but you had to see something that would show you the time in your life before your powers truly manifested themselves. When we were free and innocent and able to simply just exist as a child should. I thought you would like to see a bit of normalcy with as chaotic as a life as you've been forced to lead even before he showed up."

"He...you mean Ranma? What's he got to do with this?" Once again, silence reigned in the mock-void of her mind. "Answer me, damn you!"

"That is a subject for another time." With that, Akane woke with a start. Not surprisingly, she found herself in her bed, laying next to Ranma who was sleeping soundly. 'Just like him to sleep through anything,' she silently mused. Making sure she didn't make too much noise, so as to not wake Ami in her nearby bedroom, Akane made her way out of bed and onto the balcony on connected to their room. She leaned against the rail as contemplated what she saw in her dream tonight. 'It's weird, I used to think I was going crazy, but I'm beginning to think that I actually did live that life. But if that's the case, what happened to change the state of things so drastically? It would be nice to know that at least in one lifetime I had a mother there as I grew up. Kasumi may have done her job well, but there really is no way to replace the real thing.' At that thought, she sighed deeply as she turned back towards their room and the bed. 'Oh well, looks like the rest of this will have to be sorted out later.' She noticed the clock before dozing back off, '3:30, well at least I'll get another couple hours in before he wakes up to continue training.' Just before she closes her eyes, a mischievous smirk crosses her face and she gives Ranma a quick peck on the cheek before curling up next to him. "Goodnight, Ranma." 


	6. Training and Research

About an hour before dawn, Ranma Saotome's internal clock began going off. As consciousness began to return to him, his brain went through a mental checklist that it had programmed into him long ago.

Where am I? Unknown at this time.  
Am I in a bed or on a futon? Yes, bed. 'Ok, so I'm not at home'  
Am I alone? No. 'Ok, nothing abnormal yet'  
Is the person I'm with either muscled or furry? No. 'Uh-oh'  
Is the person female? Yes. 'Ah, crap'  
(Activating sense of smell) Is there any scent of cooking or flowers in the air? No. 'Ok, I'm officially dead.'

With his mental questionnaire completed, Ranma knew very well who was sleeping next to him: Akane. Unfortunately for him, his brain was not used to making the connection between being in Akane's bed and normalcy. Therefore, like a rodent fearful of being pounced upon by an unsuspecting cat, he exited the bed with the utmost stealth and haste. Sadly, for the normally graceful martial artist, the contrasting natures of these two axioms decided to exert themselves at that time and caused him to uncharacteristically faceplant into the floor next to the bed. He did his best to quickly detangle himself as the adrenaline continued to course through his system until a horribly annoying cadence filled the air. He looked at the offending alarm clock and swore under his breath as the huntress began to stir.

The rasping sound of the alarm woke Akane from the tenuous embrace of unconsciousness as she rolled over in the bed and made a semi-blind swipe at the offending appliance. After silence reigned supreme once more, she forced her body into movement and began to slowly wake up. She put one hand on the bed to steady herself, the other attempted to help her eyes function, and quickly realized that Ranma wasn't in the bed. That thought quickly sliced through her morning haze as her eyes shot open to see no one else in the bed, and the sheets in a mess trailing off the other side. As she crawled across to investigate she found her husband tangled in the covers with an expression very much akin to a deer in headlights. At this, she couldn't help herself and said, "Ranma, what exactly do you think you're doing down there? I thought you were supposed to be the graceful one, at least on your feet."

'Oh crap, oh crap she's gonna...wait a minute, she's teasing me?' Ranma's visibly relaxed as his brain penetrated the fog it had been in for the past minute or so. Images of the last couple days flooded back and he remembered why this was supposed to be normal now. With that, he hung his head grinning. "What can I say? Old habits die hard. And for the sake of the morning, let's leave it at that, ok?"

She scoffed good-naturedly at him, but silently agreed. They didn't need to go down that path since both of them knew it would lead to bad feelings that were meant to be in the past. "Fine. Be that way," she replied winking at him. By this time, Ranma had finally extricated himself from the mass of sheets and was getting ready for the morning workout by donning one of his red sleeveless shirts and his standard pants and slip-on shoes. Akane watched with rapt attention as her husband went through the motions, all the while transfixed where she sat in their bed.

"Um, Akane, you gonna be training today?"

Broken from her reverie, she noticed he was ready to go outside and she was still in her nightclothes. "...Sorry! Be right down. Now, shoo, shoo!" She bolted from the bed almost pushing him out of the room so she could change into her training gi.

***

Once outside, the pigtailed martial artist began a few light stretches as he worked the kinks out of his body. Soon after he began, his mischievous bride walked out and began mirroring him warm up. After they were both loose enough to their individual satisfactions Ranma turned to Akane. "For the record, you did better by the end of your first lesson than I anticipated. So, as a reward, I am going to do a modified sparring exercise to see how well you can keep up with me."

At the word 'sparring' Akane's entire face lit up in excitement. "You mean you re actually going to spar me this early?"

Ranma only grinned and shook his head, "I said 'modified sparring exercise' not spar." He saw her deflate a bit at that, but continued, "What I am going to do is be your mobile target. I want you to aim each technique you throw at one of my cupped hands. After you tag the hand, I will move the opposite hand to another position while also moving around the yard. Your next attack should be aimed where my other hand moves to. The process will repeat until I call time. I warn you now, I WILL be throwing verbal jabs your way to ruin your timing and technique. If either suffers, I will end the lesson and there will be no further training for three days."

At the last sentence, Akane became defensive, "What do you mean no training for three days? I thought that was the whole point of all this."

Ranma only sighed. "It is. But you need to learn to control your emotions in a fight just as much as you need to control your technique. If you can pass this test to my expectations, there is a good chance you could learn the Amiguriken sooner than I thought. If not, the three day penalty goes into effect and you should use that time to reflect on WHY you let my words get to you. Especially since you know I do it during fights to take my opponent off their game to make the fight easier to win. I did it to Ryoga and Mousse all the time."

Akane did her best to listen to his reasoning, and it seemed sound enough. "Alright, but please don't make it too bad. Even with how we know we feel about each other now, that kind of talk brings back alot of bad memories. Try to go easy on it if you can, ok?"

"Fair enough. Also, I officially apologize beforehand for everything I'm about to say once we start. I never want to hurt you, so please remember that and just call what I'm about to start saying as strictly training."

"Alright." She bowed and took a loose fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are."

Ranma took his own stance, which really only consisted of standing loosely with his hands cupped outwardly in front of him. "Ok, pick your first target and we'll go from there." At her nod, he smirked. "Begin!"

Akane threw a slightly slow right punch to start and it lightly impacted left hand. "Oh, c'mon.. that was WAY too slow," chided Ranma as he shifted his weight to his right side, moving his right hand in front of his face near his chin. Akane saw the movement and her left fist reached his hand a couple seconds after it stopped moving. "Let's move already, you need to pick things up," he said as his left hand crossed his body to stop next to his right hip. Akane did her best to keep her breathing even, knowing he was trying to rile her. Again she punched to his position and again his opposite hand moved; this time ending at the bridge of his nose. Her left fist shot out quicker this time, only losing a second or so before it stopped. As the pace slowly began to increase, the noise from the pair's 'fight' did as well.

***

Ami awoke with a start. She looked over to the clock at her bedside...'5am? Ugh...wait, what's that noise?' The Senshi of Ice calmed herself for a moment and piqued her ears to catch the telltale sounds of fighting through the walls. 'What's going on out there? Could the attacks have started already? I'd better investigate.' With that thought, Ami quickly transformed into the guise of Sailor Mercury and leapt out of her window on the east side of the house, vaulting onto the roof as she did. Saying that what she saw going on in her backyard startled her would have been a gross understatement. There, zipping around the yard were Ranma and Akane fighting. Well, maybe not fighting. She wasn't sure what someone would call it. Maybe a strange form of tag? All she knew was faster than her eyes seemed to be able to track, Akane was punching Ranma's cupped hands as he moved throughout the yard. Each punch met it's mark successfully just as the hand stopped its movement. It seemed to her that Akane was able to anticipate Ranma's actions as he was doing them. It was quite the sight to behold. It was almost as if the two were in the middle of some strange ritualistic dance of some sort, to the point where Mercury almost forgot why she had come out here to investigate in the first place. Gaining back some measure of decorum, she alighted down into the shadows between the side of the house and the perimeter fencing and detransformed. Making a small spectacle of herself, she walked into the backyard, arms raised high and yawned loudly. She looked at the two martial artists and asked in a loud, annoyed and groggy voice, "What are you doing?"

"TIME!" At the single word the dance halted in mid-punch as Ranma lowered his hands and turned to his groggy hostess. "Training, Ami-chan" replied a bright-eyed Ranma.

Ami yawned again. "At five in the morning?"

"This is nothing. I've gotten up earlier and worked much harder than this."

"Try to go back to bed, Ami," puffed Akane, "we'll try to keep it down from now on."

A still slightly groggy Ami turned back towards the house in an attempt to do just that. Meanwhile, across town, a certain sigil of a certain Moon princess glowed brightly in her darkened bedroom. In her sleep she softly muttered a single word to the rest of the world. "Kaneda."

Luna stood watch over her charge and sighed. 'I wish she'd never had that dream.' The feline turned her gaze to the moon outside, as she yearned for a time long past. 'The last thing she needs to do is search for a ghost. Even if Kaneda is alive in this time, he'll do nothing but bring chaos to the Senshi's rank, especially if Sailor Sol is not reborn. Even if, against all odds, Karina and Kaneda are both re-incarnated, we will have a very serious problem on our hands. The Moon kingdom was never given Sol's henshin rod. Should we find Karina, she won't be able to transform."

***

Later that day, while Ranma and Akane were busy looking for jobs so they could move out on their own, a certain Mercurian senshi was searching the vast databases at her disposal on anything regarding the subject of the Senshi's previous meeting. It did not sit well with her that they were only finding out about other members of their team now, well after everyone thought that no one else from their mutual past still existed. She remembered Luna and Artemis' faces when Rei told the assembled group what she had seen in her vision. Both seemed incredibly guilty and wanted to be anywhere but the center of the explosion of questions they were sure to follow. Luckily for them, the group was so shocked by the news that Luna had been able to calm the resultant deluge of speculation that followed by refocusing far away from the topic. Now it was her job, at least unofficially, to figure out just what this all meant for them. So here she was, trying to find out more information about Rei's vision. She pondered which direction to take her query, towards the new sailor or her Princess's family. Knowing which would be more beneficial to her leader, beneficial being the operative word, she typed her first search into her computer's database: Lunar royal family.

Immediately a multitude of information links were displayed. She was amazed at just how many different topics were found regarding three simple words. She redefined her search, moving towards the most current results. She was given a grouping of links that seemed wholly contrary to each other: Lunar family, current; Lunar family tree; Lunar Guard; Solar Kingdom; Vulcan; Sol; The Great Separation; Golden Millennium Prophecy; Golden Millennium; Senshi, Lunar: current; Senshi: Solar: current;...there were even more, but these were highlighted for their importance. The ones that really piqued her interest from the list dealt with thing she had never even heard of: The Great Separation, Golden Millennium Prophecy, and Golden Millennium. She made sure to look at those after she did what she needed to do first. She saved her search so she would have all of this for later if she needed it and then began with the link marked Lunar family tree. Instantly, a huge bracketed grid appeared which began with the, then current Queen Serenity and carefully traced the family all the way back to the original queen some 8000 years prior. As she scanned the tree, she realized that males from ever corner of the system were, at one time or another, married into the royal lineage. She was actually surprised at the frequency she read some of the planets in the lineage. She was also surprised to see Sol and Vulcan listed numerous times within the first 1000 years. After approximately 1200 years into the tree, neither was mentioned again and notation on the right said post-GS. She left the notation alone for now so she wouldn't ponder it too much until she did what she wanted.

Eventually, she got back to the current royal family. She saw the obvious notations of the queen, her husband and their children. The king at the time, named Chronos and originally hailing from Pluto, helped the queen to bear two children. The first, a son, was named Kaneda. The next, approximately six and a half years later was Usagi. Next to her name was Serenity, her official court name. She clicked on Kaneda's name and up came a shockingly close representation of Ranma. The Mercurian princess could only stare open-mouthed at the image on the left-hand of her screen. The rotating 3-d picture showed someone who could be Ranma's twin if he let his hair out of its pigtail and wore armor. The armor was deep smoke-grey in appearance, with only minor golden detailing and a golden upturned crescent moon on the chestplate. On the other half of the screen detailed the young prince. It seems he was the head of the Lunar Guard, the best martial practitioner in the realm and a fairly decent magic user. According to the file, Kaneda was currently twenty-one years old and was engaged to be married to Karina Sol. Their wedding date was still unknown.

Ami nodded at the screen, as if communicating she had learned all she could for the time being about this, and went back to the rest of her list. The next item that went to had truly piqued her curiosity when she'd seen it: Golden Millennium Prophecy. Her mind went wild with the possible implications. She and the rest of the senshi had originally lived during the Silver Millennium of the Moon Kingdom. What then was this 'Golden' Millennium? From the memories returned to them both by the Advisors, Sailor Pluto, and the reincarnated Sailor Saturn, they had a relatively good idea of what life was like during the reign of their queen. To say life was ideal would probably have been an understatement, so how could anything actually be better than that? With that question firmly planted in her head, she clicked the link.  
GOLDEN MILLENNIUM PROPHECY

When the celestial mother is barren from first born and female birth, Luna's only son and Sol's daughter shall reunite all despite great unrest and the Golden Millennium born.

-Amunaten Seer of the House of Her Majesty Apolita II

Ami wasn't entirely sure how many more surprises she could take. She wasn't very well versed in interpreting prophecies, but it seemed that a great time of peace was to be centered around the reunification of the two kingdoms. While that seemed somewhat obvious, it was the part mentioning 'great unrest' that disturbed her. Could it have meant Beryll? Were they actually supposed to have defeated her back then? Was the current set of circumstances never supposed to happen? Will this 'Golden' Millennium ever come about now that the kingdoms were all but extinct?

Too many questions. Entirely too many questions. Ami shook her head to clear it of the mess of speculation running through her brain. It was better to just press on for now. With that in mind, she steeled herself yet again and moved to her next topic. 


	7. First Battle?

While Ami was busy perusing the databases of her ancient homeland, a certain Shinto priestess-in-training was busy preparing her body and mind for another intense session with the Holy Fire. These initial meditations served a multitude of purposes for the budding miko: ki gathering, focus of purpose, cleansing of the mind and many others.

Unfortunately for her this night, no matter how much she meditated she could not quiet the images and feelings assaulting her psyche. Ever since she had done the last reading, the images of demon lords and unstoppable unholy juggernauts had been pervading her thoughts. The thought that their group would be gaining a new senshi with unrivalled potential barely even crossed her thoughts. Yes, their new addition would be extremely powerful, but she would also be new. She would not have full access to her powers like the rest of them did. This could be very dangerous if they needed something stronger than even what their new companion would bring to the fray.

Then there was Usagi's unknown sibling. For some reason, when she gazed at the image of the silhouetted Kaneda in the fire, she felt an overwhelming attraction that she could not explain. She couldn't see his face, only his shadowed outline, but she still knew the undeniable feeling permeating from her heart. Such feelings for someone she had not only never met, but also knew to be engaged to someone else, from what Usagi had briefly explained before asking for the reading, was unsettling to the miko. Again, she tried vainly to rid herself of the emotions and cleanse her mind to no real avail. Finally, she instead decided to use the emotions as a focus for gathering her ki for the ritual. After only a few short minutes, she could feel the required ki permeating her being. Despite the absence of a clear mind, she decided to perform the ritual regardless since she was doing this for the betterment of her friends.

She slowly repositioned herself in front of the Holy Fire, beginning the chant that fuses her gathered ki to the flames. Coupled with the ceremonial hand gestures her grandfather taught her, she was quickly deep into the ritual after only a scant number of minutes. As Rei opened her eyes to the vision the Fire gave her, her body was overtaken by a total paralysis of the spirit. Her mind mentally raced as such a circumstance had never happened to her before. She was unable to even breathe as the most vivid images she had ever conjured before began playing themselves out in the Fire. Her spirit raced into the Fire and across the cosmos in a headlong rush before transcending through dimensions and landing in the most unholy of destinations.

As her astral form settled into the barren landscape, enough of the paralysis had worn off for her to fully take in her surroundings. To say it was a sight found only in one's nightmares would be a gross understatement. The ground, cracked and rocky, glowed with the unwelcoming reddish light of barely submerged magma. Noxious gases vented into the air at random points across the landscape creating clouds of deadly and unseen vapor. Rocky cauldrons of lava were strewn throughout the craggy nothingness constantly bubbling from their own noxious emissions and occasionally leaping forth from their resting place as if searching for some unwary soul to burn to the very marrow. Off in the distance, volcanoes as black as pitch encompassed the horizon and constantly vented more gases and lava to all but black the sky of this...realm. At some intermediary point between the distant active volcanoes and the nearby scalding lava pools, was a most peculiar sight to behold. The miko-to-be attempted to better ascertain what it was she was before her paralysis returned yet again and she was hurled bodily towards where her eyes had previously settled. Kept far above the area for now, Rei was able to better understand what she had been seeing.

From her new vantage point high in the charcoal black sky, Rei stared, unmoving, at a strange version of a step pyramid. Where before she had only been able to see the outlining shape from a distance, from above she saw that there were nine ascending concentric circular steps leading to the last step at the apex. While the rock lining each step was opaque while looking at it directly, from her vantage point, she was able to see that the dorsal side of the step was actually clear like glass or crystal. What she saw in each tier would have been enough to make her run screaming for the hills. If the miko's eyes were not deceiving her, then each tier of the 'pyramid' contained countless souls in eternal torment, being subjected to every form of torture imaginable. When she was finally able to make her mental perspective change so that she w as no longer staring at the tormented masses, Rei finally noticed something else. At a random point along each level of the pyramid was a gargantuan, hulking figure watching the torment below the as if a warden of a strange prison. Each overseer, though mostly shadowed from sight, seemed more gruesome than the previous as the young girl's gaze mentally shifted to ascend the structure away from the horrifying sight. Finally, as if this nightmarish vision was her own subconscious brand of torture, her gaze became fixated on the apex of the pyramid. There, on its own and final step, above the nine other circular levels, sat a throne of flesh, bone and blood. Seemingly constructed from the limbs, bones, bowels and other unmentionable human matter sat another behemoth. The outline of this monstrosity truly seemed to embody the horror of every waking nightmare known to humankind. She could see the shadowy presence of a pseudo-crown of horns ringing the deformed skin of its scalp. Just above both ears were two additional horns which projected forward and then abruptly reversed direction. Eyes of liquid fire stared directly at her, their depths promising unending torment, destruction and chaos. Though, from her vantage point, she could not distinctly see them, she knew the beast's mouth had a multitude of sharp dagger-like fangs which she felt sneer at her. The torso was framed by two arms, each with multiple spikes and horns protruding from them at seemingly random intervals. A pair of jet black scaled wings, previously unseen while it had been seated, unfolded outward and then curled back around itself to cover its body as if it was donning a cloak. Despite the lack of definition caused from it being enveloped in shadow, she could tell this creature was well-muscled and would easily crush her underfoot if it so desired.

After an interminable silence, the demon lord's gaze shifted slightly and its head tilted slightly in recognition of the miko's astral presence. It snarled, baring the dagger teeth of its great maw and intoned, "So, one of the gods' pawns comes before me at last. You are foolish to venture here, where I reign truly supreme. Are you so arrogant to think that you may enter this realm uncontested, despite what your ancestors did? You will pay for your insolence little girl!"

The demon rose from his grotesque throne, eyes flaming like twin suns, as a monstrous red and black aura began swirling around him. Suddenly Rei could feel something in her mind. Before she could understand what was happening, her astral body doubled over in pain as the demon's mental assault began. She cried out in pain as she was bombarded by images she allowed to visit her only in her worst nightmares: Usagi, her body broken, beaten and invaded by a horde of monstrous demon behemoths; the rest of the Senshi being slowly tortured to the brink of death as they were forced to watch the end of their young leader's existence; her homeland, family and friends all either dead or forced to becomes slaves of youma overlords; the end of hope and the world as she knew it.

The demon king continued his assault, quickly wearing down the nearly defenseless priestess-to-be. He was almost disappointed in how easily it was to rape and destroy the spirit of one of his mortal enemies. This pathetic girl was nothing compared to those who had imprisoned him here. If this was all that stood between him and conquest, then it was indeed a moot point. A sinister smile cross his features as another idea entirely entered his mind. As he continued his assault, he began sending out other thoughts to the young priestess. 'Yield, and this shall end. Submit to me, and these horrors shall never pass!'

Rei, by now, could not take much more. As the horrors before her mind's eye began to increase in intensity, she began to hear an almost gentle and calming voice beckoning her. It promised her unparalleled power to fight, to stop the horrors she saw before her. All she had to do was yield. It was so tempting, the thought of peace and security. She could feel herself beginning to give herself over to the idea as she suddenly felt her astral self being ripped from its current location at an almost unnatural speed.

***

Hino Jushihiro was startled awake by a feeling of overwhelming wrongness. Something was grossly out of balance and his acutely trained spiritual senses were going haywire because of it. Most people who knew him as more than as just a simple Shinto priest tended to discount his spiritual prowess due to his less than honorable nature regarding women. He couldn't help himself; even far past his prime he could not always deny the urge to caress the nubile figure of a female if given the opportunity. He knew it was wrong, and repented to the gods often because of his lechery, but he had the spirit of his youth trapped in this fossil of a body.

He slowly crept out of bed in order to investigate the strange spiritual eminations he was sensing. As he read the ki and spiritual aura of the shrine and the other buildings on the grounds, he noticed that the strange sensations were stemming from the shrine of the Holy Fire. Deeply disturbed by this, he quickly made his way there to find his granddaughter, Rei in a crumpled heap in front of the Fire. He let his senses permeate the area, and could feel an overwhelming darkness slipping into the body of his apprentice and sole granddaughter. Knowing how imperative it was that he awaken Rei, Jushihiro acted upon his first instinct: he releasrd his aura. Almost immediately, the aged priest was enveloped in a muted golden aura which dwarfed the light given off by the Holy Fire a scant number inches away. He placed an ancient hand on his collapsed granddaughter's shoulder and began infusing her with his chi. Soon, her own aura began to show as the energy suffused her body. As he worked the transfer, he also began muttering in a halting chant a banishment spell to ward off the evil presence he sensed earlier. Quicker than he had anticipated, Rei began to stir from her vision-induced 'slumber'. He quickly cut off the flow of chi to Rei, only to have her crumple unceremoniously back to the ground. After he finished the banishment, he turned to his unconsious granddaughter and sighed. "Oh, Rei, what have you unleashed upon this world." 


	8. Déjà vu? part 1

A/N: Sorry for not posting, every time I think I get my life under control to keep writing, Karma shows me once again how little control I have. Hopefully I will have the last part of this chapter finished soon, for now, here's part 1.

Across the ward, while Rei was being spiritually torn asunder, a certain pigtailed martial artist was in the process of, once again, navigating his own mental landscape. Once again, he was faced with his dreams of being some ancient prince to a long dead kingdom that no one had ever considered existed. He was currently in his mother's throne room, his faithful panther by his side once more. He had just finished giving a report to the queen about the lack of ability in the guardsmen and had been told about a now forced engagement.

He knew the prophecy as well as the next. Over a millennium ago, a Seer for the Solar Royal Family received a vision. In it, the Solar Kingdom, whom had split from the Lunar court about five millennia previously, would again be united under a single banner once again. This unification would bring an unparalleled era of peace and prosperity for both nations. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as though fate had dealt him an unwelcomed hand. If what everything he had overheard was true, he was now the proud receipient of his very own fiance . The worst of it was he had absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever.

Several days later passed in a instant to Ranma as he continued to watch from outside his dream self. He was beginning to wonder just how much of these dreams was based in reality and how much was actually fantasy. Never before had he ever had such lucid dreams or ones with the amount of detail he had been experiencing, and recalling, in these. But that was insane. This couldn't be real; could it? Despite not being the best student academically, he still knew enough world history to know that a few gaijin astronauts had landed on the moon, and they certainly didn't find any evidence of some great lost civilization. So how did this all add up? Shelving that for the time being, he turned his full attention back to 'himself' just in time to see him meet his mother and make their way to a strange circular multi-leveled dais guarded by two men in similar armor to himself and two cloaked individuals behind them, directly in front of the dais.

Kaneda Lunar stepped onto the teleportation dais with his mother, dread in his thoughts. He knew what today was. His mother had promised the Solar Kingdom delegation that at the end of the week the two of them would be arriving to meet the Solar Royal Family. He sighed inwardly, the sound of his armor shifting slightly the only real sound he made as he crossed to the center of the dais, keeping in step with his mother at all times. The pair stopped as they reached the center and, for about the hundredth time in the last half hour, the crowned prince wished his mother had let him bring Nova to this little meet-and-greet. He already missed the panther's presence, both empathically and physically, at his side.

Queen Serenity glanced knowingly at her eldest child as he took his place beside her on the teleportation platform. Despite already coming into manhood and leading the Lunar Guard, Kaneda was still her son. Despite how society saw him, the queen would always see him as a young boy who would always be his mother's first born. She was actually sorry that this engagement would happen for him, though it would certainly make the process of choosing a wife for him much simpler. Already, most of the newborn Senshi were relatively close acquaintances. Some, including the new Senshi of Mars and Mercury, were showing signs of wanting to move to a much deeper relationship with her son. While she normally might have enjoyed the show of the court's guardians vying for her son's attentions, it was not to be.

Each queen before her, and after the Great Split, knew the prophecy of Amunaten once he made it. With the signs all pointing to the prophecy coming to fruition, Serenity could not pass up this chance at reunification. When Sol and Vulcan initially ceded from the Lunar Kingdom they did so from a solely isolationist perspective. The immense power base the star represented helped the two former bodies of the Lunar Court to effectively shield themselves from any and all unwanted communication directed towards their new fledgling kingdom. Over the years, though very sustainable thanks to Sol's nigh infinite power supply, the new kingdom had waned simply due to being so closed off. It was after the first two hundred years that the first delegation from Sol had requested a conference between their royalty and Luna's. She remembered reading the scrolls of that meeting from her ancestor's reign. While Sol and Vulcan had not left on the best of terms, it had never been the intention of the Lunar royalty to remove the two from the fold. After all, the stones representing the planet and star were still embedded into the entrance to the throne room as an enduring reminder of the kingdom's initial composition. Therefore, it had been at the queen's behest that both the teleportation and communication networks linking the Lunar Kingdom to Sol and Vulcan remain intact until such time as the prodigal children wished to resume contact with them.

It had not been a relatively long wait, all things considering. The original kingdom had stood for millennia prior to the Split, so only losing contact with the 'Solars' for approximatelyl two hundred years was not as bad as it could have otherwise been. No, Serenity surmised, the Solar Kingdom could not have forseen such a circumstance as what Amunaten had prophesized that day. However, they did share the news with their once allies. At the time, making no initial guarantees to anything should the circumstances of the prophecy ever emerge. It took the time up until now to have agreeable terms set in place for what would happen when the 'conditions' were met and how everything would proceed from there. Over the last few centuries, it had been relatively commonplace for delegates of both kingdoms to meet and discourse the current climate of both kingdoms in order for preparations to be made if it seems that the kingdom's reconstituion may happen during that generation.

Serenity snapped back to the present from her mental wanderings as she felt her son's hand rest on her back in a show of affection and support. She looked down to see him smiling slightly. "What is it, Kaneda?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I love you, Mom. I know I don't really say it as much as I used to, and I'm sorry for that." Serenity smiled warmly at her oldest child as he expressed his sentiment. "I also wanted to let you know that I will do my best to honor the agreement we are inciting today."

At this, Serenity's smile faltered slightly. "Oh, Kaneda. Please do not feel obligated by this, my son. While we are indeed arranging a marriage, I want you to know that I still want you to be happy with the resulting union. You have my blessing to take as long of a courtship as is necessary to determine if a union between yourself and the Solar Princess is feasible. If it is not, then I will speak with Their Majesties and we will come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will allow us to coexist, no matter how long it takes."

"I appreciate that, Mother. I do." With that, he gave an almost imperceptible nod to his mother and turned his full attention back towards the direction they entered the dais, standing fully erect.

Understanding his son's posture, Serentity turned to the two mages who up until now had been waiting patiently for their ruler to signal she was ready. "You may begin at your leisure, gentleman. Thank you for being patient with us."

"There is no need, Your Majesty," spoke the mage on her left. With that, the two men linked voice and body together in a quick, yet intricate, chant accompanied by even faster hand gestures. Within moments, a pillar of light shot down from the sky enveloping the dais and the two royals standing upon it. As the blinding light faded, the mother and son of Luna had vanished.

A scant matter of seconds later, another pillar of light touched down in a much different locale than the one the two Lunar royals departed. As the blinding light of the teleportation spell faded and the pair's eyes adjusted, Kaneda and Serenity took in, for the first time, the grounds of Solari Palace. Where Luna and the planets had varying forms of 'normal' flora and fauna, it seemed the book had been rewritten on Sol. As the pair descended the dais, after greeting the mages and guards, they were almost immediately overwhelmed by a strange mass of almost living light. The crowned prince had never seen such a strange sight. Before them was the equivalent of an amorphous globe of pure light that seemed to be formed from hundreds of strange glowing insect-like creatures and rested in the boughs of an equally strange-looking tree. Suddenly, the mass scattered until there were only a few of the peculiar animals left. Kaneda cautiously moved closer to examine the curious butterfly-like insects.

Just as he crouched down and reached out an inquisitve hand to touch one of the hovering animals, a voice broke his concentration. "I see your son has discovered the pyreflies, Queen Serenity."

The queen smiled at her son, before turning her full attention to her counterpart. "You are quite correct, Queen Herania. I am reminded of my first reaction to these beautiful creatures all those years ago. I recall, by the end of my visit, begging my mother to allow me to keep one and take it back to the palace."

"Yes, I remember watching that conversation. I felt so sad for you then. Of course it is impossibel for the pyreflies to leave Sol's surface, but you didn't know that. I wonder how many impassioned pleas such as yours have been made over the millenia?"

"One can only guess, Queen Herania." By this time Kaneda had returned to a proper standing position. The First Knight of the Lunar Guard stood at attention, his face relaxed but the rest of his posture was completely formal. "Now, Queen Herania, this is my son, Kaneda."

Herania took in the sight before her and smiled inwardly. The boy had not expected to be greeted by the queen and so had relaxed himself with gazing at the pyreflies prior to entering the castle proper. She had noticed his inquisitive nature and tender nature when he attempted to touch, not capture, one of the hovering creatures. It spoke volumes of how he treated others, especially of how he treated things which were new to him. She hoped that same nature would help him once he met Karina. If it didn't, spirits help the boy because nothing else certainly could. "It's quite alright, Kaneda. You don't need to put on formalities for me. Just treat me with the same respect you treat your mother and that will be fine."

At the Solar queen's comment, he immediately placed his right hand on his opposing shoulder and bowed politely to her. "Very well, Your Majesty."

"Such a polite boy you have, Serenity."

She smiled at the compliment, "You have no idea, Herania."

"Well then, off to meet the family," said the queen. Her gait was neither hurried nor lethargic, but it did carry an almost playful bounce to it as she led them through the gardens towards the Great Hall.

Kaneda remained silent but watched in slight amusement at the childlike nature of Solar matriarch. She must have been an interesting parent. He idly wondered what the child of such a parent would be like. He chuckled inwardly since he would be answering his own question momentarily. As they made their way through the grounds, he continued coming up with question after question about what this girl would be like. His mother already told him that if it didn't seem like it would work out, that he could end the engagement and they would find a mutually beneficial arrangement between the kingdoms. But she also said to give this arrangement every possible opportunity. So he would. For her. Not for anyone else...

"What is the meaning of this travesty? I am engaged? You cannot actually be serious. Why, Father?" If looks or screams could kill, then the heir to the Solar Kingdom would have commited regicide in that moment. She was betrothed? Mother agreed? They could not be serious. She refused to stand for this. She, the greatest of all the Senshi. She, the heir to the great Solar Kingdom. She...she was being reminded by her father's steady gaze that they were not the only ones in the room.

King Helios continued to raise a level gaze to his daughter as she inwardly seethed. He audibly sighed at his daughter's question. For such a bright girl, she was asking a rather obvious question. Although considering she seemed to almost outright refuse to pay attention to interstellar politics, even she knew to prophecy of Amunaten. If she refused to wake up to the fact that she was an only child and that the Lunar Kingdom had only produced one male offspring, that was her fault. It's not like she and Princess Serenity had not met before. In fact, for the last millenium, the Lunar princess has been the guest of the Solar Kingdom in every generation. While the offer was always reciprocated, however, the Solar Kingdom clung to their xenophobic ways and never ventured back to the ancient seat of power of the kingdom from which they ceded. "Karina, stop your tirade this instant. You disrespect yourself, your family and your kingdom when you do so. Especially in front of other nobility."

At this point, the princess at least had the temerity to look abashed. However, her question was not about to get answered as the side doors to the Great Hall opened to reveal her mother, the Lunar Queen and a young man her age. Her betrothed had entered the building. Perfect.

...especially not for some stuck up little princess that thinks she is the sole owner of all reality. He could already feel himself closing himself off. Shutting down the pathways to his heart. Erecting inpenetratable barriers to let this, this thing (calling her a person was an insult to his kingdom and probably hers as well) through. There is no way in the Nine Circles he was going to stand to be engaged to some narcissistic, self-aggrandizing tramp of a female. He just wasn't.

That being said, he would try. For his mother. On his honor as a Lunar Guardsman and Prince he would try. For her, and no one else. 


End file.
